Led by Kane Williamson’s 26th Test century – en route which he also surpassed Ross Taylor to become the highest Test run-scorer for New Zealand – the hosts managed to finally have some parity in the Wellington Test at Basin Reserve. Courtesy of an unbeaten 125-run stand between Williamson and Tom Blundell, New Zealand extended their first innings score to 423 for 5, and the lead to 197 at Tea on Day 4.
Williamson and Blundell batted out the entire post Lunch session without any trouble, taking advantage of the old ball and a pitch that has flattened out. The duo largely remained cautious, but were quick to take advantage of the rare errors in lines by the English bowlers, as also find gaps on the field to pick up singles, twos and even a couple of threes.
With not much proving effective, Anderson even changed his line of operation and came around the wicket, but not with much success. Ollie Robinson created a chance when Blundell pulled a back-of-the-length delivery to Anderson at leg gully but was put down when he was batting on 30. He cashed in on that opportunity and headed to Tea unbeaten on 62.
As the session progressed and the bowlers tired out, more boundary-scoring opportunities came New Zealand’s way, and Williamson was quick to pounce on those – without having to take additionals risks. He played his shots along the ground, often just glancing the ball down the leg side or opening the face of the bat to play behind the wicket on the off. He brought up his century by playing a widish ball outside off behind the square for a boundary.
Earlier in the day, Williamson whipped a delivery from Anderson through the mid wicket region to bring up a boundary and become the leading run-getter for New Zealand in Tests.
He added 20 runs with Nicholls to their overnight score before Robinson induced an edge off Nicholls, which was well taken by Harry Brooks in the cordon. Nonetheless, Daryl Mitchell didn’t allow the visitors to dominate. He looked busy right from the start of his innings, rotating the strike frequently. He even went after Anderson, taking advantage of the rare errors in length by the pacer, and crunching him for boundaries off the front foot and back.
Even as Williamson continued to adopt a defensive approach, Mitchell’s attack ensured that the runs came quite fast once New Zealand took the lead. He brought up his half century with a six down the ground off Jack Leach. However, his entertaining, run-aball 54 came to an end when he top edged a pull off Stuart Broad that balooned in the air and allowed Joe Root to settle under it.
Brief Scores: England 435/8 decl. (Harry Brook 186, Joe Root 153*; Matt Henry 4-100, Michael Bracewell 2-54) New Zealand 209 (Tim Southee 73, Tom Blundell 38; Stuart Broad 4-61, James Anderson 3-37) & 423/5 (Kane Williamson 113*, Tom Latham 83; Jack Leach 2-132) by 197 runs
