A wonderful century from BJ Watling helped New Zealand take a first-innings lead against England on Day 3 of the first Test match at Mount Maunganui.
Resuming on 4-144, Henry Nicholls and BJ Watling put in a composed batting performance in the opening hour of the day. Runs did come their way, even if it wasn’t off their bats as a Jofra Archer bouncer went straight over the keeper’s head and to the boundary for four byes.
England toiled hard in the field today but things just didn’t go their way no matter how much they tried. They thought they’d got Nicholls out LBW with the score at 5-190 but Nicholls’ review showed that the impact was outside the line so the decision was overturned.
Joe Root eventually got Nicholls out LBW later on for 41.
Our centurion, Watling, was dropped by Stokes at slip when he was on 31 in a rare moment for someone who usually has a safe pair of hands. England reviewed a non-out decision with Watling later on but, while the impact was in-line, the ball was just going over the top of the stumps and so the decision stood.
Another review, when Watling was on 113, showed that the ball had clipped the bat before going into the pads so he could still carry on. Watling eventually got his eighth Test century, ending the day on 119 not out.
England also struggled to get Colin de Grandhomme out and de Grandhomme picked up a useful half-century before finally falling to an excellent catch by the debutant Dominic Sibley at gully.
Mitchell Santner was also a good batting partner for Watling as he scored the second six of the day, straight down the ground off a Joe Root half-volley. De Grandhomme pulled a six over square-leg off Archer earlier on.
Meanwhile, Watling was getting boundaries off balls that he just needed to give a guiding push or edge with the bat. Even a front-foot defence shot off Leach managed to find its way to the boundary.
New Zealand made it to the stumps with their score at 6-391, a lead of 41 runs with four wickets remaining. The hosts will surely be setting their sights on extending this lead as much as possible with two days left in the Test match.
Day 4 will definitely show us whether we’re going to get a result or whether we’re heading for a draw, as is common in Tests between New Zealand and England.
England will need to improve their bowling if they’ve any chance of getting themselves back into it. Of course, they’re not helped by the quick outfield but some poor bowling choices by the captain, Joe Root, have contributed to New Zealand moving ahead.
Just two wickets fell for the addition of 247 runs today, an example of how Watling, de Grandhomme and Santner were able to take on the English bowling well.
Day 4 will be an interesting watch so tune in to the morning session before play at the Gabba gets underway. It all starts at 9 am AEDT.
Tanmoy K
Guest
New Zealand's first inning score of 615/9 show's how poor is English bowling outside England without a Duke ball.
Gee
Roar Rookie
England really need to switch to the Kookaburra ball in County Cricket. The Duke ball on juicy decks does not teach them the skills of how to figure out a batsman when confronted with normal conditions.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Yes, Santner’s innings hadn’t reached its full heights when I wrote that. Black Caps have been great and continues their excellent record last few years. That said, I do feel for teams like England and Pakistan (here) where they have to just “show up” and start performing at the FC level with limited to no preparation/acclimatisation. It’s doing the Test game a disservice, especially in the age of two-Test series when by the time teams have gotten used to the foreign conditions, the series is basically over.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
Of course, this article is only about day 3 but I'd like to bring in Mitchell Santner's brilliant century and 261-run partnership with Watling - if NZ win this match, that will have been the major contributing factor. They ground the English bowlers down to get the score up to 7-577 when Santner eventually got out. de Grandhomme's half century equally valuable for the attacking style against Watling's more considered style. You could say the same about Santner, scoring sixes left, right and centre when the opportunity arose. I may be an England fan but I really enjoyed that batting performance by the Black Caps.
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
Hi Paul, The England bowling attack just grew so tired through the NZ 1st innings. Broad has rarely featured on the highlights packages that I have been watching to cover this match. Archer is trying so hard but his bouncers are just a bit too wayward. The bowlers experimented with lines but this just led to more boundaries being scored. The attack's never been balanced in England tests, IMO, there is always a bias towards your two best bowlers which in this test match, on paper, are Broad and Archer (no Anderson). Stokes is an all-rounder so is never overbowled and Curran is also used to fill in the gaps. But the fact that for the first 190 overs, Root had a wicket and Broad and Archer didn't certainly shows that something went wrong. NZ have really pulled ahead on day 4 so they could get a result, especially with England's collapse to 3-55 at the end of the day. The 2013 series between England and New Zealand finished 0-0 because all three matches were draws so this isn't a rarity whatsoever. In fact, NZ's win in the day/night game against England in Auckland in March last year was the first time that either side had won a game between them in NZ for over a decade.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Black Caps continuing to take the game away from England. It'll be tight to get an outcome and will rely on an England collapse - but that's not out of the question with England, though NZ will need more from the pitch than has been on offer so far. Such a crucial partnership between Watling and deGrandhomme. Bowling at about 30 and averaging 40 with the bat coming in at #7, deGrandomme's contributions to NZ are so valuable. His 4th half century in his last 5 innings.
Paul
Roar Guru
Joshua, what's your take on Archer's bowling in this game? He's obviously put in the effort, but 36 overs, none for 88? I'm also wondering whether the attack's balanced? Broad & Archer have got through 66 overs but Stokes & Curran have only got through 44? It also seems to me these two sides are trying so hard NOT to lose, they've almost forgotten about winning this game. The pitch hasn't helped, but neither side really went at it with the bat either.