England face uphill battle in Hamilton Test against New Zealand
What's the story
Team England is facing a mammoth task of chasing 658 runs in the ongoing third Test against New Zealand in Hamilton. Day 3 of the match saw New Zealand take a firm grip with a mammoth first innings score of 453/10. Kiwi talisman Kane Williamson was the star performer for his side as he scored 156 runs. The Brits are off to a poor start as they were reeling at 18/2 at stumps.
NZ innings
NZ posted a massive score
The hosts resumed the day at 136/3. Williamson, who completed his fifty yesterday, continued the good work. The batter recorded a 107-run stand with Rachin Ravindra (44) to take his side past 300. He further added 92 runs with Daryl Mitchell (60) before falling to Shoaib Bashir. Tom Blundell (44* off 55) and Mitchell Santner (49 off 38) played fiery cameos toward the end as NZ finished at 453/10. Jacob Bethell (3/72) was the pick of the English bowlers.
ENG innings
England lose both openers
England had to survive just six overs but they suffered massive damage in this period. Tim Southee, playing his last Test, struck in the second over to remove Ben Duckett. Matt Henry also struck with the final ball of the penultimate over to trap Zak Crawley. The hosts hence finished at 18/2. Notably, a significant part of the day's play got washed out due to rain.
Williamson
Fifth Test hundred vs England
Williamson's 156 came from 204 balls. He struck 20 fours and one six in his knock. Besides 33 tons, the Kiwi batter has 37 half-centuries in Test cricket. As per ESPNcricinfo, he now has 9,272 runs from 105 Test matches at an average of 55.19 in the format. Williamson has managed 1,386 runs across 19 Tests against England with the help of five centuries and six fifties. His average is 43.31 in this regard.
DYK
Third-fastest to score 33 Test centuries
With this century, he has become the third-fastest cricketer to score 33 Test centuries, achieving the feat in 186 innings. This puts him just behind Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 33 centuries in 178 and 183 innings respectively. His Seddon Park performance is especially impressive as the batter became the first player to score centuries in five successive Tests at one ground.
Mitchell
2,000 Test runs for Mitchell
Mitchell's 60 from 84 balls was laced with seven fours and two sixes. Playing his 31st Test, he went past 2,000 runs (now 2,059) Tests at 43.80. The batter slammed his 14th fifty and second of this series (100s: 5). Mitchell now owns 956 runs from 10 Tests versus England at 59.75. The tally now includes seven fifties and three tons. He also went past 1,000 Test runs (now 1,024) at home at 42.66