DAY 1 REPORT

Boult's career-best, resilient Williamson help New Zealand dominate

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

Boult's 6 for 32 had England all out for 58 in their first innings. © Getty

Kane Williamson and Trent Boult helped New Zealand dominate proceedings on the first day of the first Test against as the Day-Night Test caravan rolled into Auckland on Thursday (March 22). New Zealand ended the day on 175 for 3, with a healthy lead of 117, after England's shocking collapse in the first session.

The visitors slipped to their sixth-lowest total in Tests - 58 all out - as Boult registered his career-best 6 for 32. Tim Southee bagged 4 for 25 before Williamson helped the hosts drive home the advantage with an unbeaten 91.

After a frenetic first session, Williamson provided the Test the much-needed calm. England's innings lasted just 20.4 overs and it seems it's as good as over for them on the first day with conditions easing out for the batsmen. Make no mistake, New Zealand batsmen weren't presented anything on the platter. However, Tom Latham and Williamson worked hard for their runs even as the English bowlers kept hammering the door to find an opening.

They stuck to their tasks but the hosts weren't in a mood to throw their wickets away and presented a resilient challenge. The England bowlers failed to extract the same amount of movement off the pitch and in the air as their New Zealand counterparts bringing back the memories of their Ashes drubbing in Australia where they slipped to a 0-4 defeat in the series.

Ahead of the Test, Joe Root had confirmed England will use Stuart Broad as the first change option. However, with a shocker in the first session, James Anderson and Broad opened the attack. England were also guilty of fluffing the opportunities that came their way early on. Probably rattled by what had happened, they allowed Latham get away with a run out chance even before he had faced a ball. Jeet Raval, the other opener, was dropped at second slip off Broad by Root as New Zealand adopted the cautious approach first up.

Having lost Raval early, Latham and Williamson did well to see off the new ball. Once the shine was off, and Moeen Ali came into the attack, Williamson particularly was intent on attacking the offspinner. He picked up some quick runs to up the ante after sedate first 20 overs as New Zealand went into the dinner break with nine wickets in hand and a lead of 30.

Latham fell soon into the final session, becoming Broad's 400th Test victim, as the ball started to nibble under lights. Ross Taylor could manage 20 but England failed to dislodge the determined Williamson even when there was just about enough help for the pacers.

While the last two sessions were classic Test cricket, the first one turned out to be as frenetic as a T20. With a green carpet laid, Williamson welcomed England to bat. Boult struck in the fifth over to get rid of Alastair Cook and then got the big fish of Root soon after to leave England at 6 for 2.

With James Vince dropped, Root walked in at No. 3. However, before he could settle in, he went for the arrogant drive - reaching out with his hands and failed to connect to an inswinger from Boult - and had his off stump knocked out.

Mark Stoneman stroked a promising 11 but Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, who returned to Test fold and is playing as a specialist batsmen because of back injury, failed to come to terms with the challenge thrown at them and were dismissed even before they could open their accounts. As if the swing menace wasn't enough for Boult, he decided to test the batsmen with seam movement as well. Anticipating the batsmen expecting swing, he threw in the scrambled seam deliveries to keep the batsmen guessing.

The best example of that was Stokes's dismissal. While the previous delivery in the 11th over swung away, he got one to nip back in on the very next. Stokes realised a tad bit later and failed to bring the bat down in time before the ball rattled the off stump. Moeen, rattled by what was going around him, missed a full toss as England slipped to 23 for 8. They were in serious danger of registering the lowest Test score ever - 26 - before a boundary from Craig Overton took them past that.

Overton swung hard and helped the team go past 50 before Boult came back to pick up his sixth wicket and register his best figures in Tests. A total of five batsmen were dismissed for ducks as New Zealand weren't forced to look past their opening pace duo who bowled unchanged till the innings end.

Brief scores: New Zealand 175/3 (Kane Williamson 91*; James Anderson 2-32) lead England 58 (Craig Overton 33*; Trent Boult 6-32, Tim Southee 4-25) by 117 runs.

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