Harry Brook 132* helps England claw back lost ground

Harry Brook scored his seventh century in just his 22nd Test match as England rode on New Zealand's fielding benevolence to overcome an early wobble and close in on the hosts' first innings total of 348. Brook was a beneficiary of as many as three dropped catches as he marched on to finish unbeaten on 132, sharing big stands for the fifth and sixth wickets with Ollie Pope (77) and Ben Stokes (37*). England, who continued to score at more than four runs to the over, ended the second day's play in Christchurch at 319/5 with the second new ball still six overs away.

The two teams were welcomed to the second day's play by strikingly different conditions. The hot and breezy weather from the opening day was gone and instead it was cool and overcast, the kind of conditions Stokes might have envisaged while opting to bowl yesterday. Coincidentally or otherwise, this also translated into greater assistance for the bowlers and more mistakes from the batters - England's false shot percentage after 15 overs hovered around 30 where the corresponding number for New Zealand was just 15.7.

But before they could attack these bowling-friendly conditions, New Zealand's last two wickets crucially added 29 runs in 40 minutes of play during which time Glenn Phillips went from 41 to 58*. Eventually, Brydon Carse uprooted No.11 Will O'Rourke's off-stump to finish with career-best figures of 4 for 64 and drew the curtains on New Zealand's innings at 348.

But it quickly became apparent that hauling down that score or even being true to England's aggressive approach with the bat was not going to be easy once Tim Southee began with a maiden in which he curled two sublime outswingers past Zak Crawley's bat. The tall opener's struggles in this country - average of 10.43 in 16 innings - was exacerbated when Matt Henry seamed one back in to trap him LBW.

At the other end, Ben Duckett tried to counter-attack and struck four boundaries and survived a drop chance on 23 when Tom Latham put him down at second slip. Debutant Jacob Bethell went 13 balls for his first run and a further 13 for his next before managing a pair of boundaries. Fellow debutant Nathan Smith ended Bethell's troubles in the final over before Lunch when he had the left-hander dismissed for 10 with a delivery that angled in from around the wicket and straightened ever so slightly to take the edge.

After an agonising wait to check for a foot fault, the decision went in Smith's favour, who served up a couple of follow-up no-balls before getting Joe Root to drag a length ball onto his stumps for his first duck in Test cricket since December 2022.

Forty-five for three became 71 for 4 in the post-Lunch session as Duckett's chancy innings came to an end four short of a half-century when his attempted pull shot off Will O'Rourke went only as far as the deep square leg fielder. New Zealand should have had their fifth wicket, and Smith his third, in the very next over as Brook edged a wide delivery to gully where the usually unflappable Glenn Phillips put down a straight forward catch.

That allowed Brook and Ollie Pope to begin laying the foundations for a big partnership. They began in sprightly fashion, quickly clawing back all the lost ground. Both the right handers were particularly productive, guiding balls past gully and over the slip cordon for boundaries. Brook was reprieved once more when on 41 with Latham fluffing a straight forward chance at slip with Smith the unlucky bowler once again. New Zealand were made to pay for their benevolence as the pitch eased out through the latter half of the second session with both batters getting to their half-centuries and taking their side to 174/4 - exactly half way to the hosts' first-innings total.

Scoring continued to be rapid in the final session although New Zealand finally held on to a catch to end the 151-run stand for the fifth wicket. This effort, however, was on the other end of the fielding spectrum as Phillips dove full length to his right to pluck an uppish shot from Pope. The favour, however, wasn't returned for Phillips when he rolled his arm over as Devon Conway put down another chance at deep slog. Batting on 71 then, Brook went on to complete a century off 122 balls with his ninth boundary - he also hit two sixes - and another that went past the point fielder.

New Zealand dropped two more catches, one off Brook and another off Stokes, allowing another partnership to flourish. The English pair had added 97 runs in just 130 balls for the sixth wicket, bringing the deficit down to just 29 runs.

Brief scores:England 319/5 (Harry Brook 132*, Ollie Pope 77; Nathan Smith 2-86) trail New Zealand 348 (Kane Williamson 93, Glenn Phillips 58*; Brydon Carse 4-64, Shoaib Bashir 4-69) by 29 runs.