Lunch – England 459 for 8 (Stokes 78*, Carse 5*) advantage New Zealand 348 (Williamson 93, Phillips 58*, Carse 4-64, Bashir 4-69) by 111 runs
However, the most surprising impetus came from Atkinson, who hit four fours and two sixes in a 36-ball 48 before holing deep square leg to give Glenn Phillips his second catch of the innings.
England had resumed play at 319 for 5, a deficit of 29, but with six overs remaining until the second new ball, they decided against ceremonies in overcast conditions similar to those in which the New Zealand seamers had thrived on the second morning.
Stokes had been the calmer partner in the first 97 runs of his sixth wicket with Brook, but two wild blows in Will O’Rourke’s first over, the second of which was hit through mid-wicket, signaled the intentions of England for the morning.
Brook hit two powerful drives for four to get his own innings moving again, but having survived four falls on the second day, he was given a fifth life at 147. Phillips, who had given him his first reprieve at 18 before grabbing a cry to evict Ollie Pope – he made a mess with another relatively easy catch that slipped through his fingers in the gully.
The new ball was Brook’s signal to speed up his innings. A violent hit through the covers from Tim Southee took him to 150 – only the third Englishman after Wally Hammond and Joe Root to reach that mark twice in New Zealand – and although he missed a ramp attempt a ball later, the Southee’s 70mph outswingers were meat and here’s to his carefree attitude.
Chris Woakes didn’t stay long as Southee found their edge with a trademark outswinger which Tom Latham, who squandered three chances on day two, took advantage of at second slip. But England have brought rare batting depth to this Test, and Atkinson, a centurion against Sri Lanka in the summer, kept the runs flowing from the 9th over with a quickfire knock of 48 off 36.
He brought up England’s 400 with a spinning pull for six over square leg off Henry, and continued to rain blows thereafter, with Stokes happy to take a breather from his own belligerence… though not for long. As the interval approached, he returned to the belligerent strokeplay with which he had started the session, driving O’Rourke hard through midwicket.
