England crash through NZ’s top order as 'bazball' makes its presence felt

Dramatic lightning flashes around Bay Oval echoed lightning innings by Ben Duckett and Harry Brook which allowed England to declare at 3259 with time to spare Thursday on the first day of the first daynight cricket test against New ZealandWhile thick black thunderclouds sometimes glowered over the ground no rain fell England while was driven along at more than 55 runs per over by the propulsive innings of Duckett who made 84 from 68 balls in the first session and Brook who posted 89 from 80 ballsThe declaration after only 582 overs and with 85 minutes left in the day gave the bowlers time to fortify Englands position and they did so with the wickets of Tom Latham Kane Williamson 6 and Henry Nicholls 4 Devon Conway 19 held on to stumps when New Zealand was 373James Anderson took 210 from seven overs in an outstanding spell in the late evening which drove home Englands advantageIf Englands new approach under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum still needed validation after nine wins in their last 10 tests it received it in the manner England approached the first day after losing the toss and being sent inFar from being daunted on a pitch which showed signs of green and against a pink ball which swung at first Duckett and England went on the offensive and New Zealand after a fleeting early success had to battle to stay in the matchAlso Read ICC apologises for ranking glitch which erroneously displayed India as No1 Test sideDuckett had his fifth half century in eight tests from 36 balls and before the first hour was up He put on 99 runs for Englands second wicket in only 90 minutes with Ollie Pope and was out 15 minutes before the first break at which England already was 1342Personally I pride myself on hundreds Duckett saidI was very disappointed when I got out I had a chance to get a big score but I would have taken 80 at the start of the dayI didnt go out there with any intention to score quickly and it just happenedNew Zealand had two fast bowlers on debut Blair Tickner and Scott Kuggeleijn and both struggled under Ducketts early assault which included 14 fours Tickner who had given up four boundaries in one over to the belligerent batting of the opener had the small consolation of capturing his wicket with a short ball which Duckett mistimed to coverNew Zealands hopes rose a little when they dismissed Pope and Joe Root in the space of four balls and suddenly England was 1544 Pope fell to a conventional catch at second slip but Root was perhaps a little too aggressive and caught at midwicket to give Kuggeleijn his first test wicketThen Brooks took over and sped towards what might have been his fourth century in five tests He needed only 43 balls for a half century which included 10 fours and left the New Zealand attack dazed and bereft of ideasWhile Duckett played a broad variety of shots most of Brooks runs came on the off side in a wide arc between third man and midoff He only began to be limited in his scoring when Neil Wagner who had shared the new ball with Tim Southee for the first time abandoned orthodoxy and tested him with a barrage of shortpitched balls one of which took him on the helmetHis flow was broken and soon after he dragged a short ball from Wagner onto his stumps after an innings of only 81 balls which included 15 fours and a six The England tail went all out in pursuit of quick runs and after Brook three wickets were lost for 27 runs amid an array or reckless shotsWagner was the best of the New Zealand bowlers with 482 from 162 oversEnglands bowlers charged in as the floodlights kept at bay the darkness of gathering clouds and the New Zealand top order founderedOllie Robinson struck with only his third ball to remove Latham who edged the ball from his thigh pad to Pope at short leg but Zac Crawley at second slip dropped Conway off James AndersonAnderson then had Williamson lbw with an appeal first rejected by umpire Aleem Dar but upheld on review Crawley caught Henry Nicholls off Anderson to leave New Zealand only hanging on at the endThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever