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Harry Brook led a defiant counter-attack after England’s top order was toppled in a frantic start to the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington.
The tourists were reduced to 43 for four after being put in at Basin Reserve, paying a heavy price for their ultra-aggressive approach in tricky conditions.
But they ended the morning session in the ascendance at 124 for four after Brook and Ollie Pope shared an unbroken stand of 81 in just 80 balls.
Brook hit five fours and two sixes in his 51 not out, with Pope 29no in support. The pair were reprising their game-changing partnership from the first Test in Christchurch, where Brook’s 171 and Pope’s 77 helped pave the way for victory.
Zak Crawley set the tone with a chaotic knock, doubling his combined score from the previous match when he squirted an inside edge for two off the first ball of the match.
He proceeded the launch Tim Southee’s sixth delivery down the ground for six, becoming only the second batter in Test history to clear the ropes in the first over of a match.
Joining that exclusive club, previously populated exclusively by the West Indian Chris Gayle, looked like a positive omen but the flaws in Crawley’s method soon became apparent.
He was throwing his hands wildly at almost everything, playing and missing at a dangerous rate. One ball virtually skimmed the bails and another dragged him horribly off balance as he chased it outside off.
Somehow he outlasted partner Ben Duckett, caught at slip for an eight-ball duck as Matt Henry hit the money. It was a classy opening spell from the seamer, who soon had Crawley for the third time in a row after picking him up twice in Christchurch.
After a dizzying innings of 17, he fell to a rare defensive stroke, Henry snaking the ball between bat and pad to knock over the middle stump. After four overs he had removed both England openers and had yet to concede a run.
Joe Root’s arrival failed to calm things, the world’s number one batter lasting just seven balls before shaping to carve Nathan Smith to third man. It was a bold effort with a packed slip cordon waiting to pounce and Daryl Mitchell made him rue the attempt, diving one-handed for a fine catch.
England lost their fourth wicket inside 13 overs when Jacob Bethell followed up two crunching straight drives by clipping Smith’s wayward short ball down leg.
The tourists were crying out for a period of calm but Brook and Pope kept their feet to the floor. Pope tickled his first ball to the fine-leg boundary before Brook stepped away and smashed Smith out of the ground.
New Zealand continued to win the occasional moral victory, beating Brook on both edges and almost persuading Pope to drag on, but the runs kept flowing. Brook frequently stepped outside leg to free up his mighty swing, while Pope looked to work the gaps behind square.
Their fifty stand took just 37 deliveries, with Brook only 10 slower to his own half-century after muscling a second six off Will O’Rourke.
