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When Stuart Broad gets those long legs pumping and has a whiff of wickets in his nostrils, he remains one of the most devastating bowlers in the world of Test cricket.
Broad got on one of his famous rolls here today as England moved on in sight of another remarkable victory in this first Test of day and night after three convincing days of action.
They had already provided another huge crowd at this picturesque Bay Oval course with enough entertainment to last a series when they broke through to 374, leaving New Zealand to make 394, the sixth most successful chase in Test history.
The Black Caps may have had two hours under the lights on the third night and two full days to get there, but they’ll likely never get a chance to make history.
Not with Broad in this mood. Not when both he and Jimmy Anderson have shown beyond a doubt that, at 36 and 40, they continue to play important roles in this England team both away from home and in whatever English conditions suit them so well.
Stuart Broad turned the ball over for England, picking up four wickets on the third day
The first wicket saw him and James Anderson become the most successful bowling partnership in Test cricket history.
It didn’t take long for Broad to rattle the ball into Devon Conway’s stumps and take the 1,002nd wicket he and Anderson have shared in tandem since they were first bowled together to replace Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard at Wellington in 2008.
That took the pair past Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne as the most prolific partnership in Test history, a milestone recognized on the big screen here to warm applause from the crowd, both English and New Zealand fans.
Broad didn’t stop there. Then came an absolute beauty to cut and trim Kane Williamson’s bails and then, after Zak Crawley dropped Tom Latham, Broad took the fielder out of the equation by slamming the ball into the lefty’s stumps.
It was the first time an England bowler had cleanly bowled the top three in any order in any Test since Fred Trueman in 1960 and Broad had produced another of those great decisive spells, such as against Australia at the Oval in 2009 and Trent Bridge. in 2015 and South Africa in Johannesburg in 2016.
Ollie Robinson got into the act to claim Henry Nicholls before Broad again took a fourth wicket, and another fair bowling, when he smashed the stumps of first-innings centurion Tom Blundell.
New Zealand managed to hold on without further losses but, at 63 for five, victory should be a formality for a rather brilliant and brutal England team who continue to champion the most positive brand of cricket imaginable and back it up with their exploits.
There has yet to be a better demonstration of the wholly positive and wholly entertaining methods England are employing to transform their Test cricket than this.
They kept coming to New Zealand on this third day, even when there were times when all cricket logic screamed at them to reign softly and with so much time remaining, just knock the Black Caps out of the game.
Ollie Robinson also took a wicket to leave England in a dominant position late in the game.
Not a bit of that. Not with an England team prepared to give their opponents a nose for victory in their mission to put on a show. This was an even bigger endorsement for ‘Bazball’ than when they scored 506 in 75 overs on the first day against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.
Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and Joe Root should, really, have spent centuries, while captain Ben Stokes looked set to make a considerable contribution when he pummeled Scott Kuggeleijn over the ropes in successive deliveries to become the most prolific six-hitter in Test. . history.
But all of them made shots that were once considered careless at best and reckless at worst, but are now positively encouraged in the disinterested interests of the big picture. And the bottom line is that Test cricket is all the better for it.
This was another absolutely compelling and gripping day of cricket from the moment Pope started the onslaught by crushing Neil Wagner with two first sixes in the same almost baseball style.
It was to be the start of a punishing day for the experienced Wagner as he kept throwing his trademark short deliveries and kept disappearing towards Mount Maunganui, going 9.45 over through nine concussions in the first session.
All the talk on the first day was whether one of these extraordinary batsmen would finally beat Gilbert Jessop’s fastest Test century for England and there were times again today when a 76-ball record set in 1902 seemed to be under considerable threat. .
Ben Stokes broke the record for number of sixes in Test cricket, beating Brendon McCullum
But first Pope went down for 49 of 46 balls, including three sixes, then Brook was dismissed for 54 of 41 balls which were decorated with shots of unorthodox genius and then Root made 57 of 62 balls before apparently giving away his wicket on the strike of the first interval.
By this time, England had crushed 158 from 25 overs in the session (Stuart Broad was quickly ousted from his nighthawk position), but only led by 256 with four wickets remaining.
It was Root’s firing that will spark most of the debate between conventional and new thinking. There’s a strong case to be made that ‘Bazball’ has slightly compromised England’s greatest batsman ever and here he fell into a reverse sweep of Michael Bracewell’s innocuous spin after being dismissed to one of his new reverse scoops in the early innings.
But it’s significant that coach Brendon McCullum made it a point to single out Root after his first-inning indiscretion against the team to tell him that’s exactly how he wants him to play. So he doesn’t expect the former England captain to change anytime soon.
Joe Root returned to form with a good half century to put England in control
Harry Brook played another dominant innings as he also topped 50 once again.
Ben Foakes was the third England batsman to reach 50 as the visitors set up New Zealand 394 to win
When Stokes scored those two sixes, the first taking him to 108 in Test cricket, surpassing McCullum’s world record in 11 fewer Tests, England again looked as if they would slip out of sight. At least until the captain took aim hard at Bracewell and went for 31.
It took Ben Foakes, promoted above his captain, to stabilize the ship, relatively speaking, on 51 for 80 balls and, by the time Jack Leach became the latest wicket to fall, England had managed to set New Zealand a mammoth 394 to win and had given two hours to bowl a new pink ball under the lights at Bay Oval.
It already seems far beyond them. When, and surely is when, rather than if, England complete victory on Sunday, they will have won 10 of the 11 Tests since Stokes and McCullum linked up with English Test cricket at one of its lowest points.
And both that run and the way they’ve done it is truly remarkable.