02:52 AM
OVER 38: ENG 230/5 (Root 53 Foakes 2)
10 minutes until tea now and England’s lead is approaching 248. They will probably be thinking of, hmmm, 370 here by dinner break and then the lights come on. Not much has changed since this morning in that regard. All is going, roughly, to plan despite the loss of three wickets in this session so far.
Tickner probing Foakes’s pads, and he clips one off them for a single. Decent over as NZ look to pull England back a bit.
02:49 AM
OVER 38: ENG 228/5 (Root 52 Foakes 1)
Foakes off the mark with a single. That and two other Root singles are the only runs from Bracewell’s latest.
02:45 AM
OVER 37: ENG 225/5 (Root 50 Foakes 0)
Unusually, it’s Ben Foakes out at seven in the order instead of Ben Stokes. Not sure why. He plays two balls to end Tickner’s successful over.
02:42 AM
WICKET: Brook c Mitchell b Tickner 54
Brook cuts Tickner through the gap between the slips and gulley for four! Not too far away from Nicholls but far away enough. But the next one is similar, but this time Brook finds Mitchell at slip who takes a good catch down low. Brook departs after his fireworks – 54 off 41.
FOW 225/5
02:40 AM
Harry Brook’s current Test record
Pretty, pretty good.
02:39 AM
OVER 36: ENG 221/4 (Root 50 Brook 50)
Michael Bracewell is on for a change of pace. Brook tries to slog him first ball but he miscues it and is nearly caught at a fairly close midwicket…
Root reverse sweeps for three which moves him to his 50, off 52 balls.
It’s quick, for sure, but it’s all relative. Brook is currently 49 not out off 35 balls. Brook, then goes back and punches one down to the long-on fielder to move to his 50 off 37 balls. Well played, that man. Not many singles in that: 36 from boundaries alone.
02:35 AM
OVER 35: ENG 214/4 (Root 46 Brook 47)
Tickner raps Root on the pad in the first ball of his over. Aleem Dar says no, but New Zealand review. It’s a good decision from the umpire, as the ball is too high and too far down the leg-side for it to be overturned. Harry Brook has passed 600 Test runs, by the way. This is his fifth Test…
02:28 AM
OVER 34: ENG 212/4 (Root 45 Brook 46)
Ouch! Brook tries to pull a standard Wagner ball (short and not very quick) and it misses everything apart from his body. Possible ribcage, possibly just below it. Next ball he makes up for it, flat batting it down to long off for four. It just sat up. Wagner has bowled a fair few overs today and none of them have been especially good and even fewer of them have been cheap.
He has, though, created a few close-ish chances but that can happen when the ball is flying to all parts. Brook hooks the third ball of the over… Devon Conway is closing in on it, gets close but cannot get a hand to it. And there’s more! Another step back and flat bat four is followed by a big six over cow corner!
Wagner finishes with a dot ball but it’s 18 from the over. His figures now read 11-0-104-2. I cannot imagine there will have been a bowler who has gone for 100 runs quicker in Test cricket. There just cannot have been. I can’t really understand the sense of keeping him on, as Southee has done.
02:23 AM
OVER 33: ENG 194/4 (Root 45 Brook 27)
Blair Tickner will return for his fifth over. His back-of-a-length delivery is crashed through point for four by Root, which brings about an effort ball. The second four of the over is a bit more fortunate, as Root inside edges down near his stumps but then behind to the deep fine leg boundary. Eight runs off the over and England lead by 213 runs.
Nearly 100 runs in the session for England, with nearly 40 minutes left in it.
02:17 AM
OVER 32: ENG 186/4 (Root 38 Brook 27)
England having less success in this Wagner over, but they are still trying. Just finding the fielders.
02:13 AM
OVER 31: ENG 183/4 (Root 35 Brook 27)
Root latches onto a shorter ball, pulling Kuggeleijn for four more! A single and then Brook plays a more conventional shots in his armoury – a wide full one brings out a textbook cover drive for four! England now lead by 200 runs.
Brook pulls for two, and it’s a close-run thing as Williamson’s throw is sharp and at the stumps. They make it.
I certainly wouldn’t want to captain against this England side.
02:10 AM
OVER 30: ENG 172/4 (Root 30 Brook 21)
Wagner getting more tap. This time he is back of a length but it’s at hip-height and Brook swivels it straight to the backward square leg boundary for four, giving it what it deserves.
Wagner bangs it in short (again), Brook steps back, frees his arm and plays a baseball shot to send the ball over the long on boundary for the fifth sixth of the day. Almost a chance for Bracewell, with a pull backward of square this time… just wide of leg gully.
Brook then flat bats it to cow corner for a one-bounce-four! Yes Wagner has two wickets today (one of them Broad) but I am not sure this is really working for NZ. It’s 16 runs off his over for the third time today. His figures now read 9-0-83-2 at 9.22 runs per over.
England have scored 93 runs so far today in 14 overs…
02:00 AM
OVER 29: ENG 156/4 (Root 29 Brook 6)
Kuggeleijn continues with his slingy right-armers. Again, not too much aggression from the England batsmen against him, but he isn’t banging it in short most balls like Wagner, who has gone for 67 runs in just eight overs. They are intent on taking quick singles, though. Keep the total increasing.
England currently lead by 175 runs after this over and that is drinks.
01:56 AM
OVER 28: ENG 151/4 (Root 27 Brook 3)
Aggression in this over against Wagner’s short ball again but it mostly ends up with the ball finding a fielder on the boundary. Brook is nearly caught out by Latham at square leg, who dives backwards but can’t quite grasp the pink ball and it’s just one run.
A relatively cheap Wagner over, this: six runs from it. England’s 150 up.
01:55 AM
OVER 27: ENG 144/4 (Root 25 Brook 0)
Kuggeleijn manages to catch Brook on the crease, not moving his feet but trying to drive. He edges it but it’s short of gully. Just. He’s causing Brook problems. A very important passage of play now, you feel.
01:48 AM
OVER 26: ENG 144/4 (Root 24 Brook 0)
Fair to say that Wagner was very happy with that wicket. Still 10 runs off the over, though, and you could argue that Pope did his job with 49 off 46.
01:46 AM
WICKET! Pope c Blundell b Wagner 49
Neil Wagner has returned. A change of ends. Two singles and then Pope slaps one through the covers for four! Same difference for Wagner so far in this over as the field is then adjusted. The next shot is extraordinary, even in this current era of England’s Test team!
He takes a step back and thwacks the ball back over the bowler’s head with a vertical bat for four…
But Wagner then gets his man the very next ball! Down the leg side, Pope plays an attempted pull but can only feather it to Blundell behind the stumps! Possibly glove? They have a quick check after the umpires request it but Pope is walking. He goes one short of his half-century.
FOW 144/4
01:41 AM
OVER 25: ENG 134/3 (Root 23 Pope 40)
It is a change in bowling, Scott Kuggeleijn is on in stead of Neil Wagner, who had proved very expensive. He gets Pope to play and miss, with a decent amount of bounce from just back of a length, beating the outside edge. Pope then dances across his stumps to flick it off his pads for a single, which brings up the 50 partnership off 38 balls. Four singles off Kuggeleijn’s third over of the innings.
England’s lead has now extended beyond 150.
01:36 AM
OVER 24: ENG 130/3 (Root 21 Pope 38)
The England pair are finding it harder to get Southee away to the boundary but then again he is providing far fewer chances for them to do so than Wagner. Just two from the captain’s latest over.
51 runs added so far today in a little over half an hour. Four sixes will do that, in fairness.
01:32 AM
OVER 23: ENG 128/3 (Root 20 Pope 37)
England are not going to stop attacking Wagner’s short balls. Root pulls through square leg but the man there, Bracewell, stops it being a four but cannot stop the single with his diving “stop”. Root’s turn for a six! Steps inside Wagner’s short ball and middles it behind backward on the leg side, into the grassy bank. A wonderful catch from a man in the crowd.
Pope returns to the six-hitting action with a similar ploy, although this was the least controlled of the lot as the ball was well above his head when he played it. This time a diving catch in the crowd is unsuccessful…
16 runs from the Wagner over again. Surely they cannot continue with this?
01:27 AM
OVER 22: ENG 112/3 (Root 12 Pope 29)
Southee continues with a probing line and length. Root, though, times one off his pads through midwicket for four. It was on or outside off stump but just angling in. Well timed, though. Five runs from this over, all of them to JE Root.
01:23 AM
OVER 21: ENG 107/3 (Root 7 Pope 29)
Aggression in this over! A shot a ball from Pope. The first ball is a short one going down the leg side and Pope latches onto it to send it over the deep backward square leg for six. Just stepped inside it and helped it on, using the pace. A couple of singles, also aggressive shots, and he does the same again. Two sixes in the over. That brings up England’s hundred.
Another single, with a pull, which just evades a fielder in relatively close. Root takes a single off the final ball, 16 runs from the over.
01:19 AM
OVER 20: ENG 91/3 (Root 5 Pope 15)
An attempted glance by Root, he doesn’t get bat on it but it glances off his pad and runs down to the boundary behind for four leg byes. The next one is fortunate: an inside edge past the stumps runs quickly down to the long leg boundary. Didn’t really move his feet and prodded. Wasn’t that close to hitting the stumps, but a false shot nevertheless.
Root feels for it again outside the off-stump, misses, and it elicits a big cry from Southee. Exasperation!
01:15 AM
OVER 19: ENG 82/3 (Root 1 Pope 15)
Root gets off the mark fifth attempt with a swivel-pull down to deep backward square leg for a single. One run and a wicket from the over.
01:12 AM
WICKET! Broad c Nicholls b Wagner 7
Wagner digs it in short again, Broad tries to fend it off as it heads throatwards but it hits the splice of his bat – or possibly even the handle – and loops up for a very, very comfortable catch for Henry Nicholls in the gulley. Very awkward to play that and Broad’s stint in the middle comes to an end.
FOW 82/3
01:09 AM
OVER 18: ENG 82/2 (Broad 7 Pope 15)
It’s skipper Southee for the second over of the day. He starts off with a good line and length to Pope. Not an extreme amount of aggression from England early on here. So far.
Pope then chases a wide one, shuffling across to the off side and down the pitch a bit to get to the pitch of it but not really timing it. Tries the same next ball but decides on leaving it. A maiden.
01:06 AM
Nick Hoult from the Bay Oval
No change from Joe Root after his reverse scoop, caught at slip dismissal in the first innings. “It is not going to stop me playing it again for sure,” he told broadcasters this morning. Root averages 50 in the Bazball era, so not exactly a crisis but two poor series – an average of 18.5 since the start of the Tests against South Africa – show he is struggling for form. England will look to score 120 minimum in each session (being conservative), putting them around 350 ahead by tea and bowling under the lights.
01:05 AM
OVER 17: ENG 82/2 (Broad 7 Pope 15)
Wagner’s first ball isn’t – it’s a no-ball. Overstepped just a tad. That, and then a Stuart Broad single, guided down to third man, brings up England’s 100 lead.
Wagner, as is often his style, starts with digging it into the pitch well back of a length. He’s not express pace by any means but he still loves and is quite effective with the short ball. Pope attempts a pull but only toe ends it. He then ducks under one, well enough. A single off the final ball and he keeps the strike.
01:02 AM
Here we go
It’s Neil Wagner to begin the day with his third over.
12:56 AM
Right, we are nearly ready to get day three’s play under way
Predictions? I am uncertain. The way it goes, England will be keen to get NZ in for that final session under lights. I reckon they will set them 327.
12:42 AM
Your questions answered: What is the point of the ‘nighthawk’?
Telegraph Sport’s chief cricket writer Scyld Berry answers your questions at the close of day two, and you can read them here.
12:34 AM
Broad going through a few batting drills out there
Looks like a lovely day at the Bay Oval.
12:22 AM
When England return to the crease, Stuart Broad will be in…
He is currently on six not out, though it is questionable whether he should still be out there in the first place after this hilarious moment yesterday.
12:18 AM
What to expect from today, then?
England are in a half-decent position here, but today is likely to be the crucial day. 98 runs ahead with eight wickets remaining – if they score at around five an over (standard for the Test side these days), and manage to bat out, say, another 50 overs then the lead could be 350. That is a difficult ask in the fourth innings anywhere. In the history of Test cricket, a score of more than 350 in the fourth innings has been achieved only four times.
England getting to that total is not guaranteed, mind you. Quick wickets and New Zealand might have something a bit more achievable.
11:59 PM
Hello
Welcome to Telegraph Sport’s coverage for day three of the First Test between New Zealand and England. The visitors lost two late wickets but scored quickly under the lights as they ended day two with a lead of 98 runs.
At stumps on day two, Ollie Robinson led England’s attack with four wickets whilst Stuart Broad and James Anderson reached 1,001 wickets as a Test partnership.
The England pacer says he hopes he can prove that he is a ‘worthy bearer of the baton’ after learning his trade from both Anderson and Broad.
The famed duo moved level with Australia’s all-timers Shane Warne and Glenn McGarth as the most prolific pairing in history, matching their combined haul of 1,001 wickets together.
The 29-year-old hopes maybe one day he will be charged in leading England’s pace attack after Anderson and Broad’s eventual retirements, a privilege he wants to live up to.
“There’s not really words to express how impressive their record is, but to be on the field with them is a privilege for me and I’m enjoying every minute of it,” he said.
“They’ve been very open and honest with me since I’ve come into the environment, which has been amazing for me and hopefully I can be a worthy bearer of the baton.
“A big thing for me is the use of the crease, which I’ve learnt from Jimmy and Broady, that’s probably helped more than anything coming in with England.
“In international cricket, the batters are that much better. You have to be more on it and use the crease and use your skills to get more out of it.”
Broad had spoken to BT Sport at the start of play, well aware that he and Anderson would soon be resuming on 999 shard scalps after a double strike by the latter on the first night.
“Yeah, it’s a lot isn’t it?” he said with a smile. “That’s really special and the way Jimmy bowled the other night, there’s no stopping him in the future as well is there?
“It’s been a pleasure to bowl at the other end, be a part of that side and win so many games with him. When we look back at all the wickets we’ve taken, there’s no doubt our favourites come in Test match wins.
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