Woakes and Carse rip through New Zealand as England close in on victory

England moved tantalisingly close to victory on day three of the first Test against New Zealand, thanks to the bowling exploits of Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse.

Woakes and Carse took three wickets each to reduce the hosts to 155-6 and a lead of just four runs.

It looked like being a very different story when Kane Williamson orchestrated a much-needed recovery from 64-3 after Tom Latham, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra were all dispatched.

The 34-year-old surpassed 9,000 Test runs, joining elite company in Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Joe Root.

Williamson was dismissed at 133-4 after being bowled lbw by Woakes, before Tom Blundell followed immediately for a golden duck.

The final wicket of the day came when Glenn Phillips was bowled lbw courtesy of Carse, leaving New Zealand staring down the barrel of defeat.

Daryl Mitchell and Nathan Smith were the two batsmen at stumps, with the former fighting on valiantly to 31.

However, this will be a Test where New Zealand rue their poor fielding, following eight dropped catches which allowed England to build a sizeable first-innings total of 499.

The tourists ruthlessly punished New Zealand’s profligacy, with Harry Brook scoring 171 runs before eventually being caught by Blundell off the bowling of Matt Henry.

There were also sizeable contributions from Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope, taking 80 and 77 runs respectively.

This could be viewed as a particularly important and morale-boosting innings from Stokes, who matched his highest score since the 2023 Ashes series.

A lot should also be said about England’s tail order, which continued to chalk up the runs in Christchurch with Gus Atkinson and Carse taking 81 runs between them.

The tourists still have some work to do in removing New Zealand’s tail, but will be heavily tipped to get the job done and move 1-0 up in the series.