Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls batted to end to an otherwise fairly action-packed third day’s play at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, sauntering their way to a sedate, unbeaten 45-run stand in the last 21.2 overs to help New Zealand to 202 for 3 in their second innings.
Starting the day on 138 for 7, New Zealand was on track to finish well below par and faced being asked to follow-on.
England looked a bit underprepared as Tim Southee along with Tom Blundell chose to smash some long boundaries and the fire start by the hosts was an entertaining start for the Day 3’s morning. After a successful half-ton, Southee was ultimately sent off post two missed chances which kept the Kiwi skipper on pitch for a longer time. After Broad claimed the important wicket, Blundell and Matt Henry were an easy target to seal the New Zealand innings. New Zealand was all out for 209 and were asked to follow-on.
Latham, on the other hand, was far more compact with his defence as the duo went on to add 149 runs for the first wicket, batting throughout the entire post-lunch session.
The deficit down to 24 at stumps on Day 3 in Wellington. Kane Williamson (25*) and Henry Nicholls (18*) see the team to the close 🏏 Follow play LIVE with @sparknzsport & @TodayFM_nz. Scores | https://t.co/dFLWKU2gwb #NZvENG pic.twitter.com/IeAGuTlEJL
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 26, 2023
The openers relied more on turning the strike than on aggressive scoring methods, except for one attempt by Conway to go down the track and hit Leach for a six. Latham crossed 5000 runs in Test cricket during their partnership.
England responded with three quick wickets after tea, triggered by the dismissal of Conway, who was undone by Leach’s extra bounce and got a bat-pad to the forward short leg fielder. Latham’s attempt to sweep backfired a few overs later, and he was caught legbefore by Joe Root, 17 runs short of a century.
Brief Scores: England 435/8 decl. (Harry Brook 186, Joe Root 153*; Matt Henry 4-100, Michael Bracewell 2-54) lead New Zealand 209 (Tim Southee 73, Tom Blundell 38; Stuart Broad 4-61, James Anderson 3-37) & 202/3 (Tom Latham 83, Devon Conway 61; Jack Leach 2-59) by 24 runs
