Lunch England 435 for 8 dec and 168 for 5 (Root 74*, Stokes 20*) need a further 90 to beat New Zealand 209 and 483
Root, having finished 153 not out in England’s first innings, continued to frustrate the New Zealand attack, bringing up a run-a-ball fifty and going to the interval on 74 from as many balls. Stokes was much more cautious in his approach, and twice got away with edges that flew over the cordon for four, but stuck to the course with England looking to seal their seventh successful fourth-innings chase since Brendon McCullum took over as coach last year.
Root’s proactivity was typified by his playing of the offspinner, Michael Bracewell. He struck three fours and two sixes for 32 runs off 12 balls faced, bringing England’s target down below three figures a few minutes before lunch.
With Bracewell under pressure, the home side’s cause was further dented when Matt Henry was forced to leave the field with back soreness, leaving captain Tim Southee to operate as part of a three-man attack.
New Zealand needed to start well if they were to halt the Bazball juggernaut, and the first hour could barely have gone better for them. England lost 4 for 27, including the run-out of first-innings centurion Harry Brook without facing a ball, as the scoreboard began to rattle – but not for the expected reason.
Ollie Robinson, the nightwatcher, was dismissed in the third over of the morning from his first shot in anger, a top-edged swipe across the line ending up in the hands of slip. With Ollie Pope beaten twice in his first three balls from Southee, England looked to Ben Duckett for assurance but he managed to add a single boundary and ten runs to his overnight total before reaching for a cut at Henry and thick-edging through to the keeper.
A quiet period followed, with Pope and Root scrabbling to find their feet, before New Zealand struck twice in as many balls to send a ripple of panic through the tourists. Pope had played his first authoritative shot, pulling Neil Wagner for four, when he opted to back-cut and steered the ball straight to second slip, Tom Latham holding a sharp chance.
England were 80 for 4 and that became 80 for 5 just a minute or two later as Root called without realising his back-foot dab had not got through the cordon, Bracewell swooping from third slip to fire in a throw to Tom Blundell that left Brook well short, and continuing his jog straight back to the dressing room.
The jeopardy was all too clear for England, but Root shouldered the responsibility for repairing the situation. He was busy from the outset, clipping his first ball off the pads for two, though needed a little luck when edging Wagner wide of the slips to open his boundary account.
The introduction of Bracewell brought about a shift in momentum, as Root attempted to take the spinner down. His first ball was gloved over the keeper sweeping, and the second swung over deep midwicket after advancing down the pitch, before a brace of fours followed through backward square leg, the first bringing up England’s 100.
Stokes was circumspect, in stark contrast to his recent approach with the bat, and waited 12 balls to get off the mark. He was troubled by the extra bounce found by Henry, but with Blundell keeping up to the stumps a thin edge deflected up and away off the keeper’s gloves for four. When Stokes opted to attack a few overs later, a flashing drive just cleared the hand of Bracewell at third slip.
Stokes also seemed to be troubled by his long-standing left knee problem, grimacing in pain after laying into a forceful shot off Bracewell, but he signalled his appetite for the fight when crunching his third four later in the same over.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
Source: ESPN Crickinfo