Tea New Zealand 172 for 3 (Williamson 31*, Mitchell 0*) vs England
By tea, the hosts were 172 for 3 with Kane Williamson not out 31 and Daryl Mitchell yet to score.
England managed to break their union shortly after they passed the century stand, Gus Atkinson prising out Young before he could add to his lunch-time score of 42 with an excellent ball which drew an edge to Harry Brook at second slip.
Latham raised his fifty with a stunning drive off Atkinson and he was dropped for a second time by Ben Duckett in the slips when on 53.
As Brydon Carse continued to struggle with his lengths, Kane Williamson – unaccustomed to waiting so long to be called upon in this series – pulled a short ball through deep backward square for four.
Matthew Potts finally broke through to remove Latham, caught down the leg side, and it looked like Williamson would again need to stand up for his team, albeit from a much better position of 142 for 2 than previously in the series.
Having burned a review shortly before lunch as Ben Stokes hopefully sought to have Latham out caught behind off his own bowling, the England captain wisely overruled wicketkeeper Ollie Pope’s insistence that he’d caught Williamson down the leg side off Stokes for 20. Replays vindicated Stokes’ decision.
England breathed a sigh of relief when Rachin Ravindra spooned Carse straight to Duckett at gully for a soft dismissal and a check of the bowler’s front foot showed the delivery to be legitimate. That evened up the contest markedly after England had uncharacteristically struggled to make early inroads.
Earlier, Young had made a watchful start opening while Devon Conway is on parental leave. He faced 10 deliveries before getting off the mark with four off Potts, himself making his first appearance of the series in replacing Chris Woakes.
Young was into his work after that, no doubt to the delight of New Zealand fans who had been willing his inclusion after his Player-of-the-Series performance on the Black Caps’ successful tour of India which was just a matter of weeks ago but felt so distant as their side lurched to a losing 2-0 series deficit against England. He was streaky to begin with though, his next two boundaries coming off the edge through backward point and piercing the cordon.
But by halfway through the morning session, Young and Latham had negotiated a nibbling pitch to ease their way to 46 without loss, already more than double New Zealand’s previous best opening partnership this series. Shortly after the first drinks break, Young had helped himself to six fours all up, punishing Carse twice in one over.
Dropped on 12 by Duckett, Latham chimed in with back-to-back fours off Stokes, driving down the ground and clipping a full, straight one disdainfully through midwicket, as he moved to 36 not out for the morning session. Remarkably, 40 of Young’s runs came in fours.
With the match progressing at a far less feverish pace than in Wellington, where England won by a thumping 323 runs, New Zealand were looking to build on a firmer start but now England had taken a tighter grip on the contest.
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor, women’s cricket, at ESPNcricinfo
