NZ vs ENG 2024/25, New Zealand vs England 3rd Test, Day 1, Hamilton Match Report, Dec 14-18, 2024

Tea New Zealand 172 for 3 (Williamson 31*, Mitchell 0*) vs. England

By tea, the hosts were 172 for 3, Kane Williamson was not out for 31 and Daryl Mitchell was yet to score.

England managed to break their bond shortly after passing the century barrier, Gus Atkinson removing Young before he could add to his lunchtime score of 42 with a superb ball that gave Harry Brook the lead at second slip.

Latham added to his fifty with a stunning drive off Atkinson and was bowled for the second time at slips by Ben Duckett when he was on 53.

As Brydon Carse continued to struggle with his lengths, Kane Williamson, not used to waiting so long to be called up in this series, pulled a short ball through deep backward square for four.

Matthew Potts finally broke through to remove Latham, caught on the leg side, and it looked like Williamson would once again need to defend his team, albeit from a much better position of 142 for 2 than earlier in the series.

Having burned a review shortly before lunch as Ben Stokes looked to hopefully get Latham caught behind his own bowling, the England captain wisely overruled wicketkeeper Ollie Pope’s insistence that he had caught Williamson down the Stokes’ leg side for 20. Replays vindicated Stokes. ‘ decision.

England breathed a sigh of relief when Rachin Ravindra spooned Carse straight to Duckett in the gully for a soft dismissal and a check of the bowler’s front foot showed the delivery to be legitimate. That remarkably leveled the contest after England had unusually struggled to make early gains.

Previously, Young had made an attentive start opening while Devon Conway was on paternity leave. He faced 10 deliveries before drifting away with four from Potts, making his first appearance in the series replacing Chris Woakes.

Young set about his job after that, no doubt to the delight of New Zealand fans who had been looking forward to his inclusion after his Player of the Series performance in the Black Caps’ successful tour of India, which was just a matter of weeks. but he felt very distant when his team lost 2-0 in the series against England. However, it was streaky at first, his next two boundaries came off the edge through backward point and pierced the cordon.

But midway through the morning session, Young and Latham had negotiated a nibbling pitch to ease their way to 46 unbeaten, more than double New Zealand’s previous best opening partnership in this series. Shortly after the first drinks break, Young served six fours in total, punishing Carse twice in one.

Left on 12 by Duckett, Latham chipped in with back-to-back fours off Stokes, driving down the ground and cutting one full and straight with disdain through midwicket, as he moved to 36 not to be out of the morning session. Amazingly, 40 of Young’s runs came in fours.

With the match progressing at a much less feverish pace than in Wellington, where England won by 323 runs, New Zealand were looking to build on a firmer start, but England had now taken tighter control of the contest.