Kane Williamson makes a strong return but England chips away
Kane Williamson returned as if he had never left, scoring a characteristically astute 93 against England on the opening day of the first Test in Christchurch. For two sessions, New Zealand batsmen took advantage of the extreme batting conditions on a green surface at the Hagley Oval. Still, the table began to turn after Tea, with England taking eight wickets by the conclusion of the day. Shoaib Bashir bowled 20 of the 83 overs on Day 1 and took four wickets as New Zealand concluded on 319/8.
Ben Stokes made a quick choice to bowl first, hoping that his bowlers would make the most of the new ball on a field with a 'good covering of grass'. Gus Atkinson gave Stokes exactly that, dismissing Devon Conway with a superb catch off his bowling in the second over. New Zealand made a dubious decision to sideline Will Young, their player of the series in the historic 3-0 win in India, but Williamson demonstrated why it was warranted. The senior pro was scratchy, to begin with, as the England pacers gained some seam movement, but he rode that early phase out to consolidate as he always does. Tom Latham scored the runs between the two early on, driving over point, cover, and mid-off every time the bowlers pitched it into his arc.
Williamson made only eight runs during the 58-run second-wicket stand. After the drinks break, Brydon Carse ended Latham's quick innings by catching him behind for 47 off 54 balls. Williamson, along with Rachin Ravindra, became the first New Zealand hitter to score 1000+ runs against four (or more) different teams in this format. At various points, all of England's fast bowlers battled with the landing area of the pitch, with excess wetness underneath causing problems. Ravindra and Williamson scored nearly four runs per over for the remainder of the session, including an over from Stokes in which Williamson drove one through covers and then dragged one behind square off successive deliveries.
Williamson and Ravindra struck boundaries more frequently at the start of the post-lunch session, but Bashir broke the stand against the flow of play. Ravindra gave the spinner the charge and took the ball on the full, but he flicked it straight to Zak Crawley at mid-wicket. Williamson played with the spinner's lengths by taking him on as another partnership formed with Daryl Mitchell. The fourth-wicket duo brought New Zealand to the tea break on 193/3, giving Stokes with little options for making inroads.
However, things changed swiftly in the final session. With no assistance from the pitch or in the air, the England quicks attempted to go short against the two batters and quickly struck gold. First, Mitchell fell for it and attempted to pull a delivery from Carse, only to top-edge it to Harry Brook at third base. Williamson was seven runs shy of a century when his eyes lighted up at the width available outside the off-stump, but he ended up cutting to Crawley at backward point off Atkinson.
New Zealand quickly dropped from 227/5 to 252/7 after Bashir eliminated Tom Blundell and Nathan Smith. Matt Henry and Glenn Phillips, who was dropped on 0 by Ben Stokes, appeared to be able to get the squad through the day unscathed, but Bashir came back to deny them. The off-spinner enticed Henry into holing out to Ben Duckett at long-on for his fourth wicket. Tim Southee and Phillips then batted for the final 4.1 overs.
Brief score: New Zealand 319/8 (Kane Williamson 93, Tom Latham 47, Glenn Phillips 41*; Shoaib Bashir 4-69) vs England