England in strong position at end of third day
With him was the more compact BJ Watling, the wicketkeeper with a history of gritty fighting knocks, who was on 40 off 106.
For most of the day, New Zealand held the upper hand through the efforts of its new-ball pair Southee and Trent Boult who shared the eight wickets which fell yesterday.
England, having finally dismissed the home side for 278, suffered an early setback when out of sorts Alistair Cook (two runs) was caught behind off Trent Boult’s bowling. Despite fighting half-centuries in the second innings to Chris Woakes (52), Ben Stokes (66), Mark Stoneman (55) and captain Joe Root (51), the mountain was too big to climb, and they weren’t able to make New Zealand bat for the second time.
The trouble mounted for New Zealand as Broad had Ross Taylor (2) caught in the slips and in his fifth over trapped Henry Nicholls (0) LBW, England had to use a review to overturn the decision.
‘They are still developing within their Test careers, but I was pleased with the way they went out and got themselves into good positions, and didn’t back off’.
No longer a fixture in limited-overs worldwide cricket, there had been talk of Cook calling time on a career that has seen him rack up 12,005 Test runs, good for sixth on the all-time list. “He made it easier for me”.
Bairstow then took four catches behind the stumps to accelerate the decay of New Zealand’s first innings. While Anderson and Broad have picked their wickets at an average of 18.44 in this series, the other English bowlers have picked their wickets at 198.
Stuart Broad produced his best Test bowling performance for some time as he finished with 6-54, while James Anderson continued his strong winter with 4-76. The pitch is good for batting and even the new ball didn’t prove as helpful as in the first innings. They accounted for all the three England wickets that fell on Sunday and took their tally to a whopping 27 wickets in the series.
Ish Sodhi (1) was the next to go as Broad claimed his first five-wicket haul since England’s Test showdown with South Africa in January 2016, while Southee’s (50) fun was ended by Anderson.
But while both batsman finally prospered on a docile pitch at Hagley Oval, they likely also gave up the chance to fully capitalize on ideal batting conditions. Broad and Anderson explited that in their best joint opening spell for some time, sending New Zealand tumbling to 17-4 before lunch.