Matt Henry strikes early after New Zealand tail wags till 347 to give hosts a competitive total here at Hamilton.
Matt Henry strikes removed both England openers as New Zealand enjoyed the better of the second morning in Hamilton.
As England faltered in response to 347, Henry maintained his grip on Zak Crawley, dismissing him for the fifth time in as many innings. In the same over, he also claimed Ben Duckett.
Before Matt Potts halted a game of cat and mouse with the first ball after drinks, New Zealand’s last-wicket duo of Mitchell Santner and Will O’Rourke had vexed England for the first hour of the session, adding 32 runs to the total.
England sought to get involved right away in comfortable batting conditions. By flicking the opening ball of the innings through fine leg and then edging low and beyond of the cordon for four, Crawley was able to register his first runs of the series off Henry. In his opening over from Seddon Park’s temporarily renamed Southee End, he crunched retiring Tim Southee for four fours, demonstrating his greater authority.
However, Crawley was only able to get a leading edge from the third ball Henry delivered to him, which was picked up one-handed in the bowler’s follow-through. Rod Tucker verified the dismissal after Crawley waited for the third umpire to check, lowering his series record to five runs and five outs from 22 balls against Henry.
Duckett was also sent back by Henry four balls later, when the ball sailed in and struck the back leg in front of the middle stump. In a vibrant mini-session that was the complete opposite of what had come before, Joe Root swiftly settled in with three early boundaries to help bring up 50 after England had fallen to 33 for 2 from five overs.