New Zealand in the pink as Boult and Williamson excel

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It was mayhem at Auckland's Eden Park, as Trent Boult, in the main, and Tim Southee went on the rampage against England on the first day of the first Test, the inaugural pink-ball Test in the country.

Before England knew what had hit them, they were 27/9. Only 15.4 overs had been bowled till that point, and Boult had picked up five wickets and Southee four. England’s lowest-ever Test total – 45 – was in serious danger of being put to the shade. That was when Craig Overton, the No.9, threw his bat around and hit five fours and a six in a 25-ball 33* to somehow lift England past 50, but 20.4 overs was all it took for the innings to unravel, Boult picking up his sixth for the innings to return career-best figures of 6/32. Southee finished with 4/25 – New Zealand used just the two bowlers – and England were all out for 58, their sixth-lowest of all time.

After that, it was a matter of the New Zealand batsmen proving that it was not the pitch that did the Englishmen in, and Kane Williamson took the lead in doing that. The captain struck a patient, classy 91* to lead the reply as New Zealand ended the day on a strong 175/3, already 117 runs ahead.

It started with Williamson winning the toss and opting to field, and Boult struck in the fifth over itself, catching Alastair Cook’s outside edge through to Tom Latham at second slip. Two overs later, Boult had Joe Root’s number, going through bat and pad to hit the stumps. Root fell for a duck, the first of five England batsmen to do so in the innings.

In his next over, Boult got his third, a delivery almost identical to the one that got Cook accounting for Dawid Malan, the edge going to BJ Watling behind the stumps to leave England at 16/3.

Till then, Mark Stoneman had hung around to get into double-figures, but that was as good as it got for him, with Southee getting in on the act with a full delivery that moved away just a tad to catch the edge of Stoneman’s bat. Till Overton’s slam-bam stuff later, Stoneman’s 11 was the best by an England batsman on the day.

Stoneman’s fall left England at 18/4, and it was 18/6 soon after as Ben Stokes misjudged a Boult incoming delivery to lose his stumps and Southee had Jonny Bairstow driving one straight back to him for a simple caught-and-bowled dismissal. Just 11.2 overs had been bowled at that stage.

Not much later, by the 16th over, Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad were back too. Boult completed his five-for in just his seventh over, swinging the ball through Woakes’ drive to hit timber, Ali was out bowled by a Southee yorker, and Broad was done in by a stunner from Williamson at gully, the fieldsman seemingly flying to his left to grab the thick edge off Southee.

England's lowest totals in Test cricket

It was only Overton who stood up to the might of Boult and Southee. Three of his five fours and that six all came off Boult as Overton first found the gaps in the off side, chiefly behind square, and then flexed his muscles for a couple of beefy pulls. It was only a matter of time, though, and it came when Boult got James Anderson to fend one to Henry Nicholls.

When New Zealand began, Anderson raised visions of another dominant bowling show by squaring up Jeet Raval and catching the edge to leave Bairstow with an easy catch and the scoreboard reading 8/1.

But from there, the ninth over, to the fifth ball of the 38th, New Zealand dictated terms, with Latham and Williamson in control. There was the occasional hit and miss, many appeals, a review that went against England, but no chances offered. Latham and Williamson were cautious, even as the captain played a couple of top-drawer drives through the off side. If Boult’s mayhem was all fire, Williamson’s was ice-cool stuff, as New Zealand got the first-innings lead and got going towards the 100-run mark.

Williamson got to his half-century with a streaky shot through the slip cordon for four, but England struck again soon after, Broad getting to his 400th Test wicket as Latham, after such a patient knock, failed to keep a flick down and only sent it to Woakes at square-leg. Broad became only the second England bowler to get to the mark, Anderson having got there first.

Conventional swing seemed to have disappeared by then, and New Zealand’s 100 came up in the 42nd over, but movement reappeared soon after to trouble Williamson and the new man, Ross Taylor. The breakthrough came when Taylor couldn’t get his pull off Anderson right, and sent it to Woakes at mid-wicket to depart for 20.

There was no stopping Williamson, though. The New Zealand captain carried on as authoritatively as only he can, stroking his way to get to the doorstep of a wonderful century, while Nicholls was with him at the close, unbeaten on 24 with the partnership already worth 52 runs.