Eng vs NZ Day 3: New Zealand Near a Big Win

After two defeats in a row, New Zealand made a comeback in a way no one had thought of, setting a target of 658 for England.

Cricket Scorecard

New Zealand 347 & 453

England 143 & 18/2

Test 3 of 3 (ENG leads 2-0) - Day 4 - Session 1

ENG need 640 runs to win

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NZ 1st InnENG 1st InnNZ 2nd InnENG 2nd Inn

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Tom Latham (c) c Ollie Pope b Matthew Potts	63	135	9	0	46.67
Will Young c Harry Brook b Gus Atkinson	42	92	10	0	45.65
Kane Williamson b Matthew Potts	44	87	9	0	50.57
Rachin Ravindra c Ben Duckett b Brydon Carse	18	25	4	0	72.0
Daryl Mitchell c Ben Stokes b Gus Atkinson	14	32	3	0	43.75
Tom Blundell (wk) c Jacob Bethell b Brydon Carse	21	29	4	0	72.41
Glenn Phillips c Zak Crawley b Matthew Potts	5	10	1	0	50.0
Mitchell Santner b Matthew Potts	76	117	10	2	64.96
Matt Henry c Harry Brook b Ben Stokes	8	20	0	1	40.0
Tim Southee c Brydon Carse b Gus Atkinson	23	10	1	3	230.0
Will O'Rourke not out	5	30	1	0	16.67

Extras: 28 (NB 4, W 2, B 12, LB 10)

Total: 347 (10 wkts, 97.1 ov)

Fall of wickets: 105/1 (W. Young, 30.3 ov), 149/2 (T. Latham, 44.1 ov), 172/3 (R. Ravindra, 52.3 ov), 185/4 (K. Williamson, 58.6 ov), 206/5 (D. Mitchell, 63.3 ov), 212/6 (G. Phillips, 66.2 ov), 231/7 (T. Blundell, 68.6 ov), 272/8 (M. Henry, 77.5 ov), 303/9 (T. Southee, 80.4 ov), 347/10 (M. Santner, 97.1 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Econ
Matthew Potts	28.1	7	90	4	3.2
Gus Atkinson	26.0	7	66	3	2.54
Brydon Carse	19.0	2	78	2	4.11
Ben Stokes (c)	24.0	6	91	1	3.79

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Zak Crawley c & b Matt Henry	21	14	5	0	150.0
Ben Duckett b Will O'Rourke	3	5	0	0	60.0
Jacob Bethell c Tom Blundell b Tim Southee	35	45	7	0	77.78
Harry Brook b Matt Henry	0	1	0	0	0.0
Joe Root c Tom Blundell b Tim Southee	5	12	1	0	41.67
Ollie Pope c Tom Blundell b Matt Henry	48	72	8	0	66.67
Ben Stokes (c) c Tom Blundell b Will O'Rourke	5	7	1	0	71.43
Gus Atkinson c Tom Blundell b Matt Henry	4	10	1	0	40.0
Brydon Carse b Will O'Rourke	0	3	0	0	0.0
Matthew Potts b Matt Henry	2	6	0	0	33.33
Shoaib Bashir not out	11	15	2	0	73.33

Extras: 9 (B 4, LB 5)

Total: 143 (10 wkts, 35.4 ov)

Fall of wickets: 32/1 (Z. Crawley, 4.2 ov), 33/2 (B. Duckett, 4.6 ov), 77/3 (J. Bethell, 15.5 ov), 77/4 (H. Brook, 15.6 ov), 82/5 (J. Root, 17.6 ov), 134/6 (O. Pope, 30.5 ov), 137/7 (B. Stokes, 32.1 ov), 141/8 (G. Atkinson, 33.5 ov), 141/9 (B. Carse, 34.2 ov), 143/10 (M. Potts, 35.4 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Econ
Matt Henry	13.4	2	54	4	3.95
Tim Southee	10.0	1	45	2	4.50
Will O'Rourke	12.0	4	44	3	3.67

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Zak Crawley c & b Matt Henry	17	21	1	0	29.41
Ben Duckett b Tim Southee	4	4	1	0	100.0
Jacob Bethell not out	9	17	2	0	52.94
Joe Root not out	0	4	0	0	75.0

Extras: 0

Total: 18 (2 wkts, 6 ov)

Fall of wickets: 8/1 (B. Duckett, 1.4 ov), 19/2 (Z. Crawley, 5.0 ov)

Yet to bat: Harry Brook, Ollie Pope (Wk), Ben Stokes (C), Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Shoaib Bashir

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Econ
Matt Henry	4.0	0	17	1	4.25
Tim Southee	2.0	1	4	1	2.0
Will O'Rourke	1.0	1	0	0	0.0

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Tom Latham (c) b Gus Atkinson	19	31	3	0	61.29
Will Young c Jacob Bethell b Ben Stokes	60	85	9	0	70.59
Kane Williamson c Ollie Pope b Shoaib Bashir	156	204	20	1	76.47
Will O'Rourke c Ollie Pope b Ben Stokes	0	8	0	0	0.0
Rachin Ravindra c Brydon Carse b Matthew Potts	44	90	4	1	48.89
Daryl Mitchell c Matthew Potts b Jacob Bethell	60	84	7	2	71.43
Tom Blundell (wk) not out	44	55	2	3	80.0
Glenn Phillips c Brydon Carse b Shoaib Bashir	3	9	0	0	33.33
Mitchell Santner c Shoaib Bashir b Joe Root	49	38	3	5	128.95
Tim Southee c Zak Crawley b Jacob Bethell	2	5	0	0	40.0
Matt Henry b Jacob Bethell	0	1	0	0	0.0

Extras: 16 (W 1, B 12, LB 3)

Total: 453 (10 wkts, 101.4 ov)

Fall of wickets: 35/1 (T. Latham, 9.4 ov), 124/2 (W. Young, 27.1 ov), 128/3 (W. O'Rourke, 29.3 ov), 235/4 (R. Ravindra, 59.3 ov), 327/5 (K. Williamson, 78.3 ov), 375/6 (G. Phillips, 90.2 ov), 380/7 (D. Mitchell, 87.5 ov), 443/8 (M. Santner, 99.5 ov), 453/9 (T. Southee, 101.3 ov), 453/10 (M. Henry, 101.4 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W	Econ
Matthew Potts	16.0	4	64	1	4.0
Gus Atkinson	9.0	4	16	1	1.78
Brydon Carse	11.0	2	34	0	3.09
Ben Stokes (c)	12.2	3	52	2	4.22
Shoaib Bashir	36.0	1	170	2	4.72
Jacob Bethell	14.2	0	72	3	5.02
Harry Brook	2.0	0	13	0	6.5
Joe Root	1.0	0	17	1	17.0

At the end of Day 3, New Zealand was batting at 136 for three wickets with Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra on the crease. Before that, they scored 347 in the first innings. New Zealand finished England's innings in just 36 overs by stopping them at just 143 runs, gaining a 204-run lead.

Kane Williamson’s Show After the Rain

On day 3, rain washed out the first session, and Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra came to bat after lunch. Both batted beautifully for the next 27 overs. Rachin Ravindra, in the 60th over, became Matthew Potts' victim when England got its first wicket of the day. What happened on the other side was phenomenal. Kane Williamson just held the one side of the pitch and batted flawlessly, completing his hundred out of 137 balls. Williamson continued to show his batting class during the whole second session. He was dismissed at 156 runs on the Shoaib Bashir ball. But the damage had already been done; by then, New Zealand had already taken the lead of over 500 runs.

KANE WILLIAMSON'S 33RD TEST HUNDRED.

- A six to bring up his century. 🥶pic.twitter.com/89l5g74buc

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 16, 2024

Santher Shines: Best change in the playing XI

The team management's decision to bring Santher into the team worked beautifully; in the second innings, he scored 49 runs in just 38 balls, hitting five massive sixes during his innings, which is rarely seen in test cricket. Please call 124 runs in both the innings of the test match, taking three crucial wickets in England’s first innings.

By the time England took all ten wickets of New Zealand, the team had already led by over 600 runs, making the results clear as to who would win the test match with two days remaining. New Zealand scored 453 runs, with a century from Kane Williamson and 40+ scores from Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, and Mitchell Santhner. Young batting All-rounder Jacob Bethell was the highest wicket-taker in the innings, with three wickets.

England Lost Two Early Wicktes

England came to bat in the fourth innings to chase a mountain-like target of 658 runs. To England's Mounting Challenges, they lost Zak Crawley's wicket in the second over itself. Another opener, Ben Duckett, was dismissed for four runs in the fifth over on Southee’s delivery.

By the End of the day, Jacob Bethell was batting at nine runs while Joe Root didn't score any runs. England still needed 640 runs to win when both the openers returned to the pavilion in just five overs. With such big scores to chase, the match result is obvious. This win will motivate New Zealand after two consecutive shameful defeats in the series.