New Zealand vs England, 1st Test: New Zealand-England highlights after Tom Blundell century

A Tom Blundell century for New Zealand and two late England batting fumbles set up the first Test at Mount Maunganui on Friday in a tantalizing way. The tourists took eight wickets in the second innings to take a 98-run lead with three days still to play in the fast-paced day-night Test at the Bay Oval. Blundell’s career-best 138 took his side to 306, just 19 runs away from England’s 325–9 declared. The delicate nature of the contest did not deter the tourists from playing their shots, although they lost opener Ben Duckett for 25 and Jack Crawley for 28 to reach 79–2 in 16 overs.

England’s best bowler, Ollie Robinson (4-54), said the honors were “beautiful even at the end” after his team reduced the Black Caps to 37-3 on the first day with their aggressive batting.

At stumps, Ollie Pope was unbeaten on 14 and nightwatchman Stuart Broad was six not out and was fortunate that his top edge, flying straight up, came between Blundell and bowler Scott Kuggeleijn, who were looking at each other. Were.

This did not detract from Blundell’s whirlwind fourth Test ton – a mixture of improvisation and power off 181 balls, which included 19 fours and a six.

The 32-year-old said he was determined not to let England’s dominance continue when he came to the crease at 83-5.

Blundell said, “I love getting into the fight, getting into tough situations and doing the things I need for the team.”

“I think I’ve been in a lot of situations like that and I can take a lot of confidence from that.

“It put us back in the game where it didn’t look like we’d come close to that.

“And getting those two valuable wickets – it probably should have been three – puts us in a really good position for tomorrow.”

milestone

Blundell shared a 75-run partnership with opener Devon Conway (77), but the latter was equally valuable in late stands with tail-enders Kuggeleijn and Blair Tickner – both on Test debut – 53 and 59 respectively.

No. 11 Tickner contributed three runs as Blundell reached three figures on 80, as the home crowd roared under the setting sun.

He was the last home wicket to fall, caught and bowled by James Anderson (3-36).

The wicket was historically significant for Anderson, who is on the verge of setting a world record for long with new ball partner Broad.

The pair have taken 1,001 wickets between them in the 133 Tests they played together 16 years ago.

He is tied with Australian legends Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, who took 1,001 wickets in 104 Tests together.

The 1,000-mark was reached early on Friday when nightwatchman Neil Wagner was fooled by a slower ball from Broad (1-72), who smashed him for consecutive sixes off the last two balls.

Conway started New Zealand’s fightback but lost concentration against a relentless barrage of short bowling from England skipper Ben Stokes (1-38) and hit a pullshot straight to square leg.

Despite his four wickets, Robinson maintained his pre-Test stance that the pink ball was not suitable for Test cricket.

“Not particularly. Once it gets past 30-40 overs, you can’t polish them, you can’t push them,” he said.

“You’d think it’s in favor of the batsman, so still not a fan.

“You’ve just got to adapt. You can try and be really aggressive, and leak runs sometimes, or you can try and stay dry and pick up one or two here or there. Can

“We did a little bit of both today.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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