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Welcome to our coverage of the first Crowe-Thorpe Trophy test, live from Christchurch! New Zealand take on the visitors England at the Hagley Oval in a series that will decide the course of this WTC cycle.
England come of a bruising series loss against Pakistan away from home. On the other end of the spectrum New Zealand come into this series after whitewashing India 3-0 in India, breaking the Indian stronghold after 12 long years of resistance.
England have won the toss, and (of course) have put New Zealand in. Out of 13 tosses at the Hagley Oval since 2014, only one captain has chosen to bat first.
An intriguing start to the series! England won an important toss on a greentop and struck early, but New Zealand were sitting pretty at 199 for 3. Kane Williamson, coming back from injury, looked in sublime touch and forged three successive fifty partnerships.
Yet, England kept on hanging in there, with Shoaib Bashir bowling 20 overs and taking 4/69 although his returns had more to do with injudicious batting than phenomenal skill.
Williamson was denied his 33rd Test hundred and New Zealand lost five wickets in the final session but Glenn Phillips played his natural game to take the hosts past 300.
In an other part of the world, Sri Lanka will resume proceedings on the second day all buoyed up after torpedoing South Africa to 14/2 and 54/4. Aryan Surana has written an interesting feature on a rain-curtailed opening day that you must check out:
🇿🇦 were against maximising home advantage via greentops and wanted 'fair surfaces' but the swing in first ten overs y'day was of record-breaking proportions. 🇱🇰 reduced them to 14/2 and 54/4, marking the improved striking ability of their pacers overseas.https://t.co/yNV7ghXUv5
— Aryan Surana (@iamaryansurana) November 28, 2024
England take the second new ball straightaway! 13 minutes left in the day, can England wrap up this innings? Three slips in place as Gus Atkinson operates with the hard new rock.
Tim Southee fetched two boundaries in Brydon Carse’s 15th over and Glenn Phillips added insult to injury by closing out the over with a thumping pull shot. 13 off the over and New Zealand have staged a decent lower-order fightback from 252/7. They’re 318/8 at the moment.
The partnership between Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry has blossomed to 44(51). Can England keep New Zealand under 350 after having reduced the visitors to 252/7?
LIVE BLOG: https://t.co/ZlSVi34aMo
COMMENTARY: https://t.co/axBAv34VNX#CricketTwitter #ENGvsNZ #WTC25 #Cricket pic.twitter.com/vS6ORwCX3a
— Guerilla Cricket #GCFromHome (@guerillacricket) November 28, 2024
The partnership between Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry had blossomed to 46 (57) so England will breathe a little easy now that they’ve seen the back of the latter.
Tossed up delivery at 85.5kph, Henry steps out to loft it over long-on. The timing goes awry as the ball dips and the bat turns a bit at the point of contact. More elevation than distance and it’s a sitter for Ben Duckett at long-on.
How good has Shoaib Bashir been today?
He has his fourth and Matt Henry departs for 18.
🇳🇿 2️⃣9️⃣8️⃣-8️⃣ pic.twitter.com/Xrvc6Ap148
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) November 28, 2024
England are chipping away at the wickets and the Barmies are vociferously lending their support to the Three Lions!
New Zealand are 288/7, having lost the wicket of Nathan Smith post the drinks break as Shoaib Bashir adds to his tally. He went back to work the ball through the leg-side on seeing the middle-and-leg line but there’s a fielder positioned specifically for that unrestrained shot. Straight to Joe Root at a shortish leg gully who gets low and pouches it with both hands.
Drinks are on the field now. Lots of starts but the conversion rate has been poor and New Zealand will be disappointed at some soft dismissals. Kane Williamson was looking primed for his 33rd Test hundred, but fell short by seven runs. They’ll hope for Glenn Phillips to usher them past the 300-run mark.
New Zealand are 251-6 after 68 overs.
BIG wicket! 😍
Kane Williamson falls in the 90s for the first time in six years, cutting straight to Zak Crawley at gully on 93
🇳🇿 2️⃣2️⃣7️⃣-5️⃣ pic.twitter.com/9ssy8xW5xz
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) November 28, 2024
If Bashir gets another one of those wickets, we will send him this t-shirt!
Get this beauty of a t-shirt right here!
Bashir keeps up his tradition of picking up wickets with terrible balls. A short, wide delivery which Blundell gets a hold of but it goes straight to Atkinson at backward point. A pretty similar dismissal to Williamson’s.
Debutant Nathan Smith joins Phillips in the middle now.
A handsome pull by Blundell for 4 to mid wicket. Atkinson’s ball was at a perfect height for a pull and Blundell did not hesitate one bit. Shot of the session so far.
No ton for Williamson! Classic case of nervous 90’s for Williamson there. Tried to get over the top off a shortish Atkinson delivery but couldn’t direct it properly into a gap. Down the gullet, straight to Crawley at backward point for his second catch of the day.
A wicket at the perfect time for England here. At 227/5 England seem to be coming back into this match. The pacers have done the trick for them in this session. Glen Philliips to join Blundell at the crease now.
Bashir has been brought back into the attack, following the same template as before. Tossing it up, inviting the batters to step out and go over the top. Let’s see how the tactic fares in this session.
Williamson flicks a full delivery off the pads to fine leg for 4 and enters the (dare I say, nervous) 90s. Bashir’s attempt at stopping the ball was in vain He has looked imperious today. Could he get a ton on his return to the side?
Carse strikes! The plan has worked for England. Short balls was the tactic deployed by England. A shortish delivery which Mitchell tried to pull towards mid wicket, finds the top edge and sails towards the very fine third man, Harry Brook.
Mitchell never really got going and has to depart for 19 (47).
We are back for the final session of the day! We are still quite some way off the 80 overs to be bowled in a day but let’s see how that shapes up.
Woakes to get us underway in this session.
New Zealand’s session as we head in for tea. Mitchell and Williamson looked in complete control for the entirety of it. There was a solitary wicket in this session as Ravindra unluckily found Crawley’s mitt after leathering a full toss of Bashir’s bowling.
England need to be more active than reactive in the next session. Still a long way off till the next new ball is available to use. Maybe a chance to bring in Carse back and see what he can offer? Either way something has to change for the visitors in the next session.
193/3
Jacob Bethell gets handed the ball by his skipper on his debut to shake things up. Should make for an interesting watch as the debutant enters the fray.
With two right handers at the crease, an orthodox left arm finger spinner will surely have both the batters thinking about their next approach.
Bashir tosses one up with Williamson stepping out a bit. The delivery generated some extra bounce and bamboozled Williamson completely. Ollie Pope with some quick hands behind the wicket and there were half shouts for a stumping. The replays showed Williamson well inside his crease as he fell on his back rather comically.
Bashir seems to be tossing it up for both the batsmen and has both long on and long off back. Maybe its a tactic suited for Mitchell more than Williamson? At least he is more likelier of the two to oblige and go aerial.
150 up for the Blackcaps in quick time, going at a run rate of more than 3 per over. Daryll Mitchell and Kane Williamson out in the middle. Mitchell settling in at 6 off 13. New Zealand do not give any indication of slowing down and England’s bowling has only aided their mission.
Pretty awful bowling here from Bashir. Dragged down two deliveries, a carbon copy of each other and Williamson is too good a batsman to miss out on both those dollies. Williamson latches on both of them and sends them rolling to the boundary.
That brings him to his 50. A strokeful innings on his return to the side. The veteran will look to launch himself to a bigger score now.
Just as it was mentioned, Bashir was brought on to counter Ravindra and the plan as worked! A weird way for a set batter to bow out as Ravindra steps out, fashions a full toss and slaps it hard straight to Crawley at short mid wicket. Everyone believed the ball was destined to caress the mid wicket boundary.
Manna from the heaven it seems for England as Ravindra looked really good and was set for a big score. Unlucky for him but a breakthrough for England finally.
29 overs in, a shuffle in tactics as Shoaib Bashir comes in for his first spell. Probably for a matchup for the leftie Ravindra.
Perhaps a ray of hope for the bowlers as Carse’s short delivery shoots up menacingly off the seam and plods itself on Williamson’s grill. The seam movement was a factor to be looked at and this could make the English attack lick their lips at the prospects of this outcome.
Ravindra plays a beautiful stroke into backward point for four. Not much wrong with the delivery from Woakes, probably a bit wide but Ravindra’s range of strokes won the battle there.
Ravindra does not seem to have lost any focus in the break as he whips Woakes for 4 through the long on area. Looked in complete control there with impeccable body balance. The southpaw races to 29 off 36 deliveries.
Players are striding out for the second session. Should be an interesting session. A chance for New Zealand to race ahead into a commanding score and for England to regain some control that they seemed to have lost by the end of the first session.
