Jonny Bairstow made an unbeaten 97 and Mark Wood 52 in a 95-run eighth-wicket partnership which lifted England to 290-8 at stumps yesterday on the first day of their second Test against New Zealand.
The pair helped mask the deficiencies of an England batting lineup which earlier had been exposed by Tim Southee, who took 5-60.
England were 164-7 when wicketkeeper Bairstow and recalled fast bowler Wood came together early in the final session for 259-8 when Wood was out 79 minutes later, having completed his first Test half century and added 20 runs to his previous highest score.
Photo: Reuters
Bairstow put on a further 31 runs in an unbroken stand for the ninth wicket with Jack Leach, who was 10 not out at stumps on his Test debut.
He came to the last over of the day at 97 not out, approaching four hours at the crease and was not to be hurried as his fifth Test century beckoned, playing out a maiden and leaving the milestone until today.
For most of the day, New Zealand held the upper hand through the efforts of its new-ball pair Southee and Trent Boult who shared the eight wickets which fell yesterday.
Southee completed his seventh five-wicket bag in Tests and Boult finished with 3-79.
“It was a tough day and obviously ebbed and flowed throughout the day,” Southee said. “It would be nice to come back tomorrow and wrap up these last two, but they’ve shown some great fight today.”
“The wicket got a bit easier and we hoped the second new ball might have done a bit more, but it’s a good sign that if we can get these two wickets early there’s no demons left in that pitch,” he added.
Boult and Southee swung the match in New Zealand’s favor when they took three wickets for two runs at the start of the second session.
After captain Joe Root and opener Mark Stoneman helped England recover from the loss of Alastair Cook (2) and James Vince (18) to be 93-2, England suffered a sudden slump, losing Root at 93-3, Dawid Malan, first ball at 94-4 and Stoneman (35) at 94-5.
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