Kane Williamson makes strong return but England chip away

Kane Williamson returned like he was never gone, compiling a typically astute 93 against England on the opening day of the first Test in Christchurch. For two sessions, New Zealand batters made the most of the surprisingly good batting conditions on a green top at the Hagley Oval, but the table slowly started to turn after Tea as England accounted for eight wickets by the end of day's play. Shoaib Bashir, who bowled 20 of the 83 overs on Day 1, picked four wickets as New Zealand finished on 319/8.

Ben Stokes was swift with his decision to bowl first, in the expectation that his bowlers can get the most of the new ball on a pitch with a 'nice covering of grass'. Gus Atkinson gave Stokes just that, taking a sharp catch off his own bowling to dismiss Devon Conway in the second over. Williamson showed why it was justified, riding the early phase out to consolidate like he usually does. Tom Latham scored the runs between the two early on, driving through point, cover and mid-off every time the bowlers pitched it in his arc.

In the second-wicket stand worth 58 runs, Williamson scored just eight. Right after the drinks break, Brydon Carse ended Latham's brisk innings by having him caught behind for 47 off just 54 balls. In the company of Rachin Ravindra, Williamson became the first New Zealand batter to score 1000-plus runs against four (or more) different teams in this format. At different times, all of the England fast bowlers struggled with the landing area on the pitch, with the excess moisture underneath causing trouble.

Ravindra and Williamson scored at nearly four-an-over for the rest of the session, including an over from Stokes where Williamson drove one through covers and then pulled one behind square off successive deliveries. Williamson and Ravindra scored boundaries at a quicker frequency at the start of the post-Lunch session, but Bashir broke the stand against the run of play.

That however, changed rather quickly in the final session. With no help off the pitch or in the air, the England quicks tried to go short against the two batters and soon struck gold. First, Mitchell fell for it and tried to pull a delivery from Carse, only to top-edge it to Harry Brook at third man. Williamson was seven runs short of a century when his eyes lit up at the width offered to him outside the off-stump, but ended up cutting to Crawley at backward point off Atkinson.

From 227/5, New Zealand quickly fell to 252/7 as Bashir took out Tom Blundell and Nathan Smith. Matt Henry and Glenn Phillips looked like they could take the team through to the end of the day without any further damage but Bashir came back to deny them that. The off-spinner lured Henry into holing out to Ben Duckett at long-on to pick his fourth wicket. Tim Southee and Phillips then batted out the last 4.1 overs.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 319/8 (Kane Williamson 93, Tom Latham 47, Glenn Phillips 41*) vs England