After bowling New Zealand out for 306 in their first innings, England returned to bat and gave the hosts a mammoth target of 394. Joe Root top-scored with 57 runs for his side, while four other English batters also slammed fifties to contribute to the team’s total of 374. On the other hand, Blair Tickner and Michael Bracewell scalped three wickets each for the Kiwis.
Coming out to chase the target, New Zealand got off to a shack start as they lost five wickets in quick succession. Among those five scalps, four were picked by England’s experienced campaigner Stuart Broad who bowled brilliantly to put the host on the backfoot.
The wickets taken by Broad included the likes of Devon Conway, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson and Tom Blundell. The 36-year-old clean bowled all four batters with absolutely magical deliveries. However, the two most elegant and treat to watch dismissal were of Conway and Williamson.
On the last ball of the fourth over, Broad gave England their first breakthrough by removing Conway. The right-arm seamer produced a sensational inswinger, which after the bounce, nipped in towards the batter and went through the gap between the bat and pad of Conway to rattle the stump.
While Broad was seen celebrating the dismissal with his partner James Anderson, Conway seemed clueless and disappointed.
Soon after the first wicket, Broad came back in the sixth over and yet again struck with the ball. He stunned Williamson with an angled-in delivery and sent him back to the pavilion for a duck. The off-side delivery by Broad nipped in towards the batter after contacting the surface of the pitch and went on to beat Williamson’s inside edge to hit the stumps.
New Zealand are 65/5 at stumps of Day 3 and still needs 331 runs to win the game, while England are just five wickets away from the victory.
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