New Zealand skipper Tim Southee played a valiant knock 73 off 49 balls but it was not enough to take the hosts across the line in the second and final Test against visitors New Zealand on Sunday.
New Zealand ended their first innings with a score of 209, with the visitors deciding to impose the follow-on in the hope of the Kiwis crumbling under pressure. But the hosts had something else in store for the English bowlers.
Patience is a virtue was the story of Day-3 and this story was justified by the Kiwi openers as Tom Latham and Devon Conway with their knocks of 83(172) and 61(155), respectively, gave New Zealand a glimmer of hope.
The way things unfolded for the hosts in the first session, it looked like they would give up sooner or later and England would walk away with another simple victory. But the opening pair of Latham and Conway led the fightback with a crucial partnership of 149.
After finally getting the breakthrough, England capitalised quickly to take wickets at regular intervals. Devon Conway became the first victim of Jack Leach. With his partner gone, Tom Latham didn’t survive long on the Day-3. He gave his wicket away to Joe Root. Will Young came in to restore New Zealand’s hope once again. He tried to settle on the pitch first but ended up falling to Jack Leach.
After losing three wickets in a span of 10 overs Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls stepped up to re-ignite New Zealand’s innings. The hosts ended the day with a score of 202/3. New Zealand’s former skipper Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls remain unbeaten at the end of Day-3 with scores of 25(81) and 18(70) respectively.
New Zealand still trail by 24 runs with wickets in their hand New Zealand will try to score as many runs as they can on Day-4 to shift the momentum in their favour. If they manage to survive on Day-4 you can expect this match to go down to the wire on the final day.
The first ball of Day-4 will be bowled at 3 am IST. (ANI)
