Stoneman and Vince help England stretch lead to 231

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Alastair Cook failed for the fourth time in four innings against New Zealand, but Mark Stoneman and James Vince built on the good work of Stuart Broad and James Anderson to take England to a strong position by the end of the third day of the second and final Test in Christchurch.

Starting the day on 192/6 in reply to England’s 307, New Zealand added crucial runs, with Tim Southee got himself a half-century, before being bowled out for 278. That gave England a lead of 29, and then Stoneman and Vince led the way as the visiting side got to 202/3 in their second innings by close of play to go 231 runs in front.

New Zealand began the day with BJ Watling and Southee in the middle, but Watling didn’t last too long as Anderson bowled a beauty, getting the ball to change direction dramatically to swing through the batsman’s defences and hit the stumps. Watling ended on 85, scored over more than five hours, and hit 11 fours and a six in his innings.

Southee, the aggressor on the third morning, had already moved from his overnight 13 to 39 by then, and hit a couple more good shots to get to his fourth half-century in Test cricket before Anderson beat his almighty swing to hit the stumps once again. Southee fell for a 48-ball 50, with eight fours and a six, and Anderson had his fourth for the innings – he would finish with 4/76.

That left New Zealand on 239/9 but the quick finish England might have hoped for didn’t materialise. Ish Sodhi had come and gone soon after Watling’s dismissal, becoming Broad’s fifth wicket of the innings, but Neil Wagner and Trent Boult weren’t about to give up without a fight, and added a further 39 runs for the final wicket to frustrate England.

The two pacemen scored quickly, with a lot of singles, before Broad (6/54) got Boult to top edge an attempted hook to fine-leg, where Dawid Malan took the catch. Boult fell for 16, while Wagner remained unbeaten on 24.

In England’s second innings Cook became the first man out again – for the fourth time in four innings – this time for 14, his highest of the series. Boult did the damage again, getting the batsman to nick one outside the off stump, and Watling took a sharp catch behind the stumps. That made it 23 runs for the series for Cook, England’s all-time leading run scorer in Tests, and left the scoreboard reading 24/1.

Stoneman, the other opener, and Vince, settled in quickly and played some beautiful shots to get the innings up and running, Vince’s drives particularly pleasing on the eye.

There was a moment of worry when Stoneman was given out caught behind off a Wagner bouncer, but it was overturned on review when it emerged that the ball had gone off the batsman’s shoulder. Ross Taylor then dropped a straightforward chance offered by Stoneman, off Colin de Grandhomme, in the slips and both batsmen brought up their half-centuries as the England lead stretched on.

The breakthrough finally came when Watling took a stunner off Southee to send Stoneman back for 60, scored off 139 balls with six fours. The partnership had been worth 123 runs and put England on the ascendance.

Vince didn’t last long after that, Boult getting him to flash at one straight to Taylor at wide first slip, and both half-centurions were back – Vince gone for 76 from 128 balls, having hit 10 boundaries along the way.

Joe Root (30*) and Malan (19*) then saw the rest of the day out, which ended three overs early because of bad light, to put England in a comfortable position to push for a series-levelling win.