Chris Woakes carved New Zealand open with a vital double strike as England placed a stranglehold on the first Test in Christchurch.
The tourists enjoyed an outstanding third day at the Hagley Oval, racking up 499 all out before reducing the hosts to 155 for six – just four runs ahead with four wickets in hand.
Woakes had struggled to make an impact in the first half of the match, sending down 20 wicketless overs in New Zealand’s first innings and making just one with the bat, but all changed as he knocked the stuffing out of the Black Caps.
He needed just nine balls to get his team on the board, home captain Tom Latham nicking to second slip, and returned later to see off key man Kane Williamson and Tom Blundell with successive deliveries.
Williamson has been head and shoulders above his team-mates this week and England would not have breathed easy while he was at the crease. Any hopes of a serious fightback appeared to evaporate when Woakes had the elegant number three lbw for 61 and he rubbed salt into the wounds by having Blundell caught behind for a golden duck.
The increasingly impressive Brydon Carse matched Woakes with three wickets, bowling with pace, bounce and attacking intent to take his match haul to seven and leave England circling a rapid finish.
The groundwork had earlier been done when the batting unit opened up a lead of 151, Harry Brook turning his overnight century into a formidable 171 and Ben Stokes hitting 80 for his highest score in almost 18 months.
Just as pleasingly for an England side who crave depth down the order, there were fireworks from the tail as Gus Atkinson and Carse smashed 81 from 60 balls between them.
England started the day 29 behind but helped themselves to 140 in the opening session to grab the game by the throat.
Brook had already been dropped four times for his 132 on day two and continued his personal game of ‘catch me if you can’ when he was put down yet again by Glenn Phillips on Saturday morning.
Blundell eventually held an edge from the Yorkshireman, but not before he had peppered the boundary with five fours and a six. As Brook walked off the field at the Hagley Oval he did so with a career average of 60.05 – fractionally less than Herbert Sutcliffe’s national record of 60.73.
Woakes did not last long but Atkinson took up the role of aggressor as Stokes knuckled down to a steady half-century. Atkinson brought up the 400 with a thumping pull off Matt Henry and he soon showed off an admirable range for a number nine – pumping a lofted cover drive and a classy square cut to the ropes.
He top-edged a pull for six when Nathan Smith went short, then stepped back and crashed him through extra cover. His ambition got the better of him when he lifted the seamer to deep midwicket but his 48 in 36 balls bruised the Kiwi attack.
With Stokes showing restraint, Carse was next to swing the bat after benefitting from the eighth drop of an uncharacteristically careless outing by the Kiwis. He clobbered three sixes on his way to an unbeaten 33 from 24 balls, hooking and pulling in a manner few number 10s can even dream about.
Stokes’ hopes of scoring his first Test hundred since the 2023 Ashes in the city of his birth went up in smoke when he holed out trying to clear the ropes himself, but England were still in full control.
Latham had dropped a hat-trick of catches in the field but was not shown the same kindness, Brook snapping up a low chance when he nicked Woakes in the third over.
Devon Conway also found a pair of safe hands when Atkinson threw himself forward from mid-off, giving Carse a breakthrough off his fifth ball.
Williamson and Rachin Ravindra shared a stand of 41 but were parted shortly after tea when the latter threw everything at a bumper from Carse but found himself hurried by pace. Jacob Bethell, patrolling the boundary ropes at midwicket, briefly appeared to lose the ball in the sun but once again put New Zealand’s catching to shame as he gathered safely.
At 64 for three they were clinging to Williamson for hope. For a while he was able to oblige, stroking the ball around with an ease that belied his team’s position.
He had 44 of New Zealand’s first hundred runs and 61 out of 133 when Woakes found a way through. The margins were fine, just enough seam movement to beat the bat and a close call on the point of impact, but when Rod Tucker raised his finger the Barmy Army raised the roof.
Losing their linchpin with their opponents still 18 ahead was a hammer blow and Woakes seized the moment by having Blundell caught behind at the very first attempt.
Carse still had one more up his sleeve, Phillips on the wrong end of a marginal lbw verdict, leaving England dominant at stumps.
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