Skittish England collapse as O’Rourke leads New Zealand third-Test fightback

There is rarely a dull moment with this England team, although there are times when their bowlers must surely crave the odd one. The second day in Hamilton felt very much a case in point, with the cryptograph that is the Bazball form line suffering a lurch southwards through a slightly bewildering batting performance.

Perhaps it was coming and not just by virtue of a series already sewn up. Though well earned in the main, England’s unassailable 2-0 lead over New Zealand involved a couple of telling fightbacks, starting from 71 for four in their first innings in Christchurch, then 43 for four at Basin Reserve. On both occasions, with assistance from Ollie Pope each time, their saviour was the flaming bat of Harry Brook.

But with the top once again knocked off at 77 for three, Brook’s bat went the same way as the countless bottles of sauvignon blanc in the members’ enclosure at Seddon Park – essentially plunged into an ice bucket. Walking out for his first outing as the world’s No 1 Test batter, this time Brook collided with an impressively hostile burst of fast bowling from Will O’Rourke and chopped on to his stumps first ball.

That golden duck was probably the defining moment in a collapse in which England lost eight for 66 to be rolled for 147 in just 35.4 overs – their shortest first innings since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over. It meant a 204-run deficit and no chance of a follow-on. Not that England’s position at stumps, trailing by 340 with a scarcely rested attack slogging for three wickets, was all down to Brook’s demise.

To say as much would be to fall into the Baztrap, where events are solely viewed through one prism. Even with Tim Southee creaking his way into retirement, New Zealand were good value on the day. It began with the completion of a calculated 76 from Mitchell Santner that, from an overnight 50, bolstered his side’s 347. Then came something of a clinic from Matt Henry and O’Rourke on a supposedly easing pitch, with New Zealand’s new-ball pro and coming man sharing seven pristine wickets.

The home attack was also more varied here than was previously the case, with Santner sending down the first spin witnessed in the match and whistling up three wickets in three overs. Having missed out since India, where his 13-wicket match in Pune sealed that historic series win, he shut down Stokes lbw on the sweep, teased an edge from Pope on the push, and snaffled a tepid return catch off Brydon Carse.

This followed a slightly confusing first 70 minutes of play in which Stokes set the field back to Santner from the outset – pretty much six balls of every over, allowing a single each time – and saw him add a further 32 runs alongside O’Rourke at No 11. Somehow, even with the damage relatively minimal, it seemed to set the tone for proceedings.

Not that England wasted much time wiping off the difference those runs made, Zak Crawley slotting four fours off Southee’s opening over and England racing to 32 from just 25 balls. But the very next delivery history repeated itself, Henry outfoxing Crawley for the fifth time in the series with a smart caught and bowled. After Ben Duckett was pinned lbw in the very same over, England went into lunch on 52 for two.

Enter O’Rourke, who despite suffering a bit of tap in the series has still shone through the pace and bounce that his 6ft 4in frame generates. Here the 23-year-old combined both for figures of three for 33 in a mighty eight-over spell. There is some talk of county interest in the Surrey-born O’Rourke, although English cricket might have been better served preventing his Kiwi parents from returning to New Zealand back in the day.

It began with a roughing up of Jacob Bethell that was followed by the sucker ball being skewed to backward point on the drive. Joe Root was seemingly untroubled for his 32, only to cut to gully after being cramped by one that moved in. Brook’s instant bump back to earth then made it a pretty special double for O’Rourke. Once Southee bids goodbye to the Black Caps, the new ball will surely come his way.

Pope has dutifully doubled his workload by taking the gloves this series and, while he nearly ran out Root at the start of his innings, the vice-captain resisted O’Rourke and helped Stokes push back in a stand worth 53 runs. But after Santner wiped out both set men and Carse for his best figures at home, and Henry polished off two more, it was over to England’s bowlers to see if something similar could be summoned.

It was pretty much a feast for New Zealand’s top order in the blazing sunshine, however. Will Young, another late arrival like Santner, made a neat 60 to total 102 runs in the match, while Kane Williamson’s unbeaten 50 compounded already aching legs. At the end of a long year that has seen England reboot their side and finish it with a third series victory out of five, that graph still remains a volatile one.