London: England were having to battle hard after New Zealand came back strongly on the third day having set England a target of 277 with two days and two sessions remaining after being dismissed for 285.
It wasn’t by any means a daunting target for England even with batting in the fourth innings but New Zealand’s disciplined opening attack saw both opening batsmen back in the pavilion with just 32 on the scoreboard.
Kyle Jamieson had claimed both wickets. Trent Boult then produced a great angled ball which seamed away after pitching to hit the off stump of Ollie Pope for 10 and that was 46 for three.
On 69 England lost the fourth wicket when Jonny Bairstow was bowled by Jamieson in the 20th over leaving the new England captain Ben Stokes and his predecessor Joe Root to repair the damage.
Shortly before tea England were 89 for four, with Root on 21 and Stokes on 12 with their team trailing by 188. A mammoth task lies ahead for England.
Earlier, after the morning drizzle had delayed start of play by half-an-hour, it turned out to be an extraordinary early session of play.
New Zealand resumed their second innings on 236 for four, an overall lead of 227. The priority for the two overnight batsmen, Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell was to bring up their hundred.
Mitchell on 97 reached three figures on the fifth ball of the day with a drive to long-on for three off Stuart Broad, having faced 189 balls.
Then within four overs New Zealand lost three wickets. In a remarkable fifth over, Broad had Mitchell edge behind on 108 after a five-hour stay at the wicket during which, he had combined with Blundell for a marvellous fifth wicket record partnership, against England, which was broken just five short of a double century. It had lifted New Zealand from a precarious 56 for four to a position of some strength on 251 for five.
However, the situation changed rapidly thereafter. The next ball brought the dismissal of Colin De Grandhomme who looked confused as to where the ball went after he played it and set off for a run and Ollie Pope had no difficulty in running him out with an excellent throw.
The tourists were suddenly 251 for seven with the next ball as Broad bowled Jamieson with an excellent delivery. He brought the ball into the batsman, between bat and pad, to hit the off stump and three wickets had gone in three consecutive balls.
Blundell had, meanwhile, added six to his overnight score of 90 and with New Zealand on 265 for eight, he was trapped lbw by James Anderson. He had missed out on what would have been a very valuable hundred. He had faced 198 balls and had been at the crease just 20 minutes short of five hours and deserved as much credit as Mitchell in that brilliant fifth wicket stand.
The last two wickets added twenty to boost the New Zealand total to 285. Broad and Matt Potts had three wickets each. Broad had an excellent spell this third morning while Potts’ fine effort with the ball made it a memorable Test debut.
SCOREBOARD
New Zealand first Innings: 132
England first innings: 141
New Zealand second Innings (O/n: 236-4):
T Latham c Foakes b Potts14
W Young c Foakes b Anderson1
K Williamson c Bairstow b Potts15
D Conway c Foakes b Broad13
D Mitchell c Foakes b Broad108
T Blundell lbw b Anderson96
C de Grandhomme (run out)0
K Jamieson b Broad0
T Southee c Root b Parkinson21
A Patel lbw Potts4
T Boult (not out)4
Extras (B-1, LB-4, NB-3, W-1)9
Total (all out, 91.3 overs)285
Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-30, 3-35, 4-56, 5-251, 6-251, 7-251, 8-265, 9-281
Bowling: Anderson 21-7-57-2, Broad 26-7-76-3, Potts 20-3-55-3, Stokes 8-1-43-0, Parkinson 15.3-0-47-1, Root 1-0-2-0
England second innings:
A Lees b Jamieson20
Z Crawley c Southee b Jamieson9
O Pope b Boult10
J Root (not out)23
J Bairstow b Jamieson16
B Stokes (not out)15
Extras (LB-3, NB-2, W-1)6
Total (For 4 wkts, 34 overs)99
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-32, 3-46, 4-69
Bowling: T Southee 11-4-27-0, T Boult 9-2-33-1, K Jamieson 9-2-24-3, C de Grandhomme 3.5-1-3-0, D Mitchell 0.1-0-0-0, A Patel 1-0-9-0
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