Brydon Carse claimed his Test-best figures of 6 for 42, in the process becoming the first England seamer to take an overseas ten-wicket haul in 16 years, before Jacob Bethell capped the contest with an unbeaten fifty on debut, as New Zealand were hustled to an emphatic eight-wicket defeat in the first Test at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
Brydon Carse had earlier been the one to set things in motion, claiming his maiden Test five-wicket haul with figures of six for 42 and so 10-106 in the match. Throw in an unbeaten 33 with the bat during England’s 449 all out and it made for an impressive outing from Durham’s muscular fast bowler. The moment came at 2.48pm local time when Jacob Bethell pulled a single to reel in a target of 104 in 12.4 overs.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : “There’s excitement all round. A couple of debutants, a full house here at the Hagley and a gorgeous summer’s day to kick the season off. It’s already over the 20-degree mark, it’s looking likely to get up to 26-27 degrees. Just a light breeze at the moment and the North-West is expected to pick up. It could really dry the surface up. When you look at the surface, It looks like a traditional Hagley wicket. Lovely coverage of grass across it to keep the pace and bounce. I would love to bowl on this.
It’s a lovely green coverage of grass, 1 percent more moisture on this wicket than the last Test match. You are going to expect some swing movement.
There’s going to be moisture coming up. The length you bowl – you are looking to target the 6m length. Looking to attack the stumps will be the key. 289 is the average 1st innings score, 309 in the second. There’s going to be movement that maybe slow given the nature of the grass expect it to speed up at the back end of the day and second afternoon. First innings even-stevens.” reckons Frankie Mackay and Shane Bond
Toss : England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to field with Jacob Bethell making his debut for English colors. New Zealand skipper Tom Latham batting first welcomes Kane Williamson and handed debut to Nathan Smith .
Day 1 : Kane Williamson makes strong return but England chip away on Day 1
Kane Williamson returned like he was never gone, compiling a typically astute 93 against England on the opening day of the first Test in Christchurch. For two sessions, New Zealand batters made the most of the surprisingly good batting conditions on a green top at the Hagley Oval, but the table slowly started to turn after Tea as England accounted for eight wickets by the end of day’s play. Shoaib Bashir, who bowled 20 of the 83 overs on Day 1, picked four wickets as New Zealand finished on 319/8.
Ben Stokes was swift with his decision to bowl first, in the expectation that his bowlers can get the most of the new ball on a pitch with a ‘nice covering of grass’. Gus Atkinson gave Stokes just that, taking a sharp catch off his own bowling to dismiss Devon Conway in the second over. New Zealand made a questionable call of putting Will Young – their player of the series in the historic 3-0 win in India – on the bench but Williamson showed why it was justified.
The senior pro was scratchy to start off as the England pacers got some seam movement but he rode that early phase out to consolidate like he usually does. Tom Latham scored the runs between the two early on, driving through point, cover and mid-off every time the bowlers pitched it in his arc.
In the second-wicket stand worth 58 runs, Kane Williamson scored just eight. Right after the drinks break, Brydon Carse ended Latham’s brisk innings by having him caught behind for 47 off just 54 balls. In the company of Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson became the first New Zealand batter to score 1000-plus runs against four (or more) different teams in this format.
At different times, all of the England fast bowlers struggled with the landing area on the pitch, with the excess moisture underneath causing trouble. Ravindra and Williamson scored at nearly four-an-over for the rest of the session, including an over from Stokes where Kane Williamson drove one through covers and then pulled one behind square off successive deliveries.
Kane Williamson and Ravindra scored boundaries at a quicker frequency at the start of the post-Lunch session, but Bashir broke the stand against the run of play. Ravindra gave the spinner the charge and took the ball on the full, but flicked it straight to Zak Crawley at mid-wicket. Williamson messed with the spinner’s lengths by taking him on as another partnership brewed – with Daryl Mitchell. The fourth-wicket pair took New Zealand to the Tea break at 193/3, leaving Stokes out of ideas to find inroads.
That however, changed rather quickly in the final session. With no help off the pitch or in the air, the England quicks tried to go short against the two batters and soon struck gold. First, Mitchell fell for it and tried to pull a delivery from Brydon Carse, only to top-edge it to Harry Brook at third man. Kane Williamson was seven runs short of a century when his eyes lit up at the width offered to him outside the off-stump, but ended up cutting to Crawley at backward point off Atkinson.
From 227/5, New Zealand quickly fell to 252/7 as Bashir took out Tom Blundell and Nathan Smith. Matt Henry and Glenn Phillips – who was dropped on 0 by Ben Stokes – looked like they could take the team through to the end of the day without any further damage but Bashir came back to deny them that. The off-spinner lured Henry into holing out to Ben Duckett at long-on to pick his fourth wicket. Tim Southee and Phillips then batted out the last 4.1 overs.
Day 2 : Harry Brook 132* helps England claw back lost ground on Day 2
Harry Brook scored his seventh century in just his 22nd Test match as England rode on New Zealand’s fielding benevolence to overcome an early wobble and close in on the hosts’ first innings total of 348.
Harry Brook was a beneficiary of as many as three dropped catches as he marched on to finish unbeaten on 132, sharing big stands for the fifth and sixth wickets with Ollie Pope (77) and Ben Stokes (37*). England, who continued to score at more than four runs to the over, ended the second day’s play in Christchurch at 319/5 with the second new ball still six overs away.
The two teams were welcomed to the second day’s play by strikingly different conditions. The hot and breezy weather from the opening day was gone and instead it was cool and overcast, the kind of conditions Stokes might have envisaged while opting to bowl yesterday. Coincidentally or otherwise, this also translated into greater assistance for the bowlers and more mistakes from the batters – England’s false shot percentage after 15 overs hovered around 30 where the corresponding number for New Zealand was just 15.7.
But before they could attack these bowling-friendly conditions, New Zealand’s last two wickets crucially added 29 runs in 40 minutes of play during which time Glenn Phillips went from 41 to 58*. Eventually, Brydon Carse uprooted No.11 Will O’Rourke’s off-stump to finish with career-best figures of 4 for 64 and drew the curtains on New Zealand’s innings at 348.
But it quickly became apparent that hauling down that score or even being true to England’s aggressive approach with the bat was not going to be easy once Tim Southee began with a maiden in which he curled two sublime outswingers past Zak Crawley’s bat. The tall opener’s struggles in this country – average of 10.43 in 16 innings – was exacerbated when Matt Henry seamed one back in to trap him LBW.
At the other end, Ben Duckett tried to counter-attack and struck four boundaries and survived a drop chance on 23 when Tom Latham put him down at second slip. Debutant Jacob Bethell went 13 balls for his first run and a further 13 for his next before managing a pair of boundaries. Fellow debutant Nathan Smith ended Bethell’s troubles in the final over before Lunch when he had the left-hander dismissed for 10 with a delivery that angled in from around the wicket and straightened ever so slightly to take the edge.
After an agonizing wait to check for a foot fault, the decision went in Smith’s favour, who served up a couple of follow-up no-balls before getting Joe Root to drag a length ball onto his stumps for his first duck in Test cricket since December 2022.
Forty-five for three became 71 for 4 in the post-Lunch session as Duckett’s chancy innings came to an end four short of a half-century when his attempted pull shot off Will O’Rourke went only as far as the deep square leg fielder. New Zealand should have had their fifth wicket, and Smith his third, in the very next over as Brook edged a wide delivery to gully where the usually unflappable Glenn Phillips put down a straight forward catch.
That allowed Brook and Ollie Pope to begin laying the foundations for a big partnership. They began in sprightly fashion, quickly clawing back all the lost ground. Both the right handers were particularly productive, guiding balls past gully and over the slip cordon for boundaries.
Harry Brook was reprieved once more when on 41 with Latham fluffing a straight forward chance at slip with Smith the unlucky bowler once again. New Zealand were made to pay for their benevolence as the pitch eased out through the latter half of the second session with both batters getting to their half-centuries and taking their side to 174/4 – exactly half way to the hosts’ first-innings total.
Scoring continued to be rapid in the final session although New Zealand finally held on to a catch to end the 151-run stand for the fifth wicket. This effort, however, was on the other end of the fielding spectrum as Phillips dove full length to his right to pluck an uppish shot from Pope.
The favour, however, wasn’t returned for Phillips when he rolled his arm over as Devon Conway put down another chance at deep slog. Batting on 71 then, Harry Brook went on to complete a century off 122 balls with his ninth boundary – he also hit two sixes – and another that went past the point fielders.
New Zealand dropped two more catches, one off Brook and another off Stokes, allowing another partnership to flourish. The English pair had added 97 runs in just 130 balls for the sixth wicket, bringing the deficit down to just 29 runs.
Day 3 : Brook, Stokes, Brydon Carse put England firmly in control on Day 3
Led by a massive 171 from Harry Brook, England scored 499 in their first innings after they were 71 for 4 at one stage as the visitors took complete control of the first Test in Christchurch. Brook was ably supported by Ben Stokes (80) and Ollie Pope (77) before cameos from Gus Atkinson (48 off 36) and Brydon Carse (33 off 24) gave the visitors a 151-run lead.
Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse carried England’s momentum with the ball as they picked up three wickets apiece to leave New Zealand reeling at 155 for 6 at Stumps on Day 3. Kane Williamson (61) reached the 9000-run mark in Tests with the bat – the first New Zealand player to do so – and was the only batter for the hosts to convert his start while the rest of the batting order fell cheaply. New Zealand currently lead by four runs.
Brook and Stokes continued from where they left off overnight, the latter hitting a boundary in the first over to bring up the century stand between the two batters. The hosts remained sloppy in the field on Day 3 as well with Brook being dropped for the fifth time in his innings, this time on 147 at gully.
New Zealand took the new ball immediately once it was due in overcast conditions but the English batters scored 36 runs in the next five overs, to go into the lead. This period of play saw Brook bring up his 150 with a boundary off veteran Tim Southee after dancing down the track and slapping the ball over extra cover. He hit Southee for 23 runs across his two overs. This was sandwiched by Stokes reaching his milestone of 50 as well.
Brook was finally caught behind as he tried to run one down to third-man, bringing an end to a wonderful innings and an enormous stand of 159 runs. Chris Woakes departed soon after as the hosts looked to have roared back into the contest with the lead only 33 runs at that stage.
But Stokes and Gus Atkinson (48) frustrated the hosts with another stand of 63 runs during which time England crossed the 400 mark. Atkinson, who took few balls to get set in, soon started playing his shots with two fours and two sixes off the short ball while Stokes creamed a couple of drives through cover for four.
Stokes fell for 80 holing out to long-on. Brydon Carse came out playing his shots immediately with a boundary to get off the mark but he had a reprieve when Glenn Phillips dropped a skier at point. Carse made the most of it with three sixes and two streaky boundaries in his 24-ball 33 before Shoaib Bashir was caught by Southee at mid-wicket as England took a 151-run lead.
England continued to dominate New Zealand as they dismissed Tom Latham cheaply on 2. The New Zealand skipper closed his bat face early and Brook held onto a low catch at second slip. Devon Conway was dismissed on a single digit score for the seventh time this year, as he miscued a pull to mid-on which was taken by Atkinson.
Williamson and Rachin Ravindra managed to take the hosts to Tea without further harm. The former riding on a sublime 93 in the first innings, played some lovely drives through cover and down the ground for fours. Soon after the Tea break, Ravindra couldn’t resist a pull shot and hit it straight to Jacob Bethell at deep mid-wicket.
Williamson, looked at ease on the pitch which was on the placid side, played some stunning drives to the fence while Daryl Mitchell punished the over-pitched balls by Atkinson and brought out a reverse sweep for four off Bashir. The two batters targeted Bashir, who conceded 32 runs in his first four overs while Williamson reached his 37th Test 50.
As the hosts continued to bite into England’s lead, Woakes came back to trap Williamson LBW on 61 with the star batter missing a straight delivery. Upon review, impact was umpire’s call as Williamson failed to convert his 50 into a century for the second time in the Test. Tom Blundell’s horrid form with the bat continued as he was dismissed first ball, increasing the pressure on him.
Blundell has scored only one fifty in his last 18 innings and averages merely 15.88 with the bat during this time. Phillips and Mitchell took the hosts into the lead but the visitors struck once again to dismiss the former LBW, off the bowling of Brydon Carse. Nathan Smith and Mitchell played out the last three overs but New Zealand have an uphill task in front of them on Day 4.
Day 4 : Jacob Bethell debut fifty, Brydon Carse ten-for, seal England victory to go 1-0 up vs New Zealand
Brydon Carse picked up his career-best Test six-fer to set up England’s convincing 8-wicket victory, and a 1-0 series lead, in Christchurch on the fourth day of the first Test. Carse disrupted New Zealand’s positive start with the bat in the morning session to help bundle out the hosts for 254 in their second innings, claiming three of the four wickets that fell. Matt Henry then struck in his very first over to dent England’s start, but Jacob Bethell’s brisk half-century ensured they were barely troubled in the modest chase.
Resuming from the overnight score of 155 for 6, New Zealand started the day with a positive batting intent and were going at nearly five RPO before Brydon Carse’s double-strike saw England get rid of Nathan Smith and Henry in the same over. Both batters were trapped LBW as Brydon Carse completed a five-fer. Tim Southee scored all off his 12 runs in sixes, in a 13-ball stay but Gus Atkinson nipped that threat in the bud quite quickly.
New Zealand’s hopes had been slender at the start of the fourth day, as they resumed with a four-run lead and just four wickets left standing, but at least they were greeted by cloudless skies and a 49-over ball: two factors that persuaded Ben Stokes to shoulder the hard yards with the day’s first spell, albeit with unintended consequences.
Midway through his fifth over, he pulled up awkwardly with what was later diagnosed with stiffness in his lower back, and immediately handed the rest of the over to Gus Atkinson. He stayed on the field through to the lunch break, and later insisted at the post-match presentations that he’d be fine for next week’s second Test at Wellington, but after the injury issues that clouded his recent tour of Pakistan, it was a worrying subplot in an otherwise uplifting day for his team.
By the time of that setback, Brydon Carse had already ripped the heart out of New Zealand’s resistance. In only his third Test, he has already made an extraordinary case to be England’s go-to third seamer: a man clearly unafraid of the hard yards, and – as he showed on debut in Multan – capable of extracting life from even the most unforgiving of surfaces, through his wholehearted attitude and the raw energy of his action.
A case in point was his breakthrough wicket on this fourth day. Nathan Smith had looked steady for his 21 runs, getting solidly into line to the short balls and even picking off back-to-back boundaries when Brydon Carse strayed too full in his opening over. However, he had no answer for the first ball of the day that truly misbehaved, as Brydon Carse bent his back to jag a sharp seamer back into Smith’s shin, with the ball keeping low to draw a leg-sided lbw verdict.
Four balls later, Brydon Carse had his second of the morning, and his fifth of the innings, to leave New Zealand deep in the mire at 192 for 8, a lead at that stage of just 41. Matt Henry was also done in by the fuller length, this time by a fast, inswinging delivery that thumped him in front of middle and leg. He took his leave with no thought of a review.
Tim Southee, in his final Test series, arrived to a tumultuous ovation, and an expectant one too, for there wasn’t much doubt about how he’d be playing this particular situation. With 93 Test sixes to his name, and a maximum of five innings in which to post his century, he duly connected twice in three balls with two lusty blows over the leg-side off Atkinson. The same bowler, however, had smacked him on the helmet with his second ball, and brought the fun to an end with his 11th, as Root at wide long-on held onto a fine tumbling take.
With just the No. 11 O’Rourke for company, Mitchell moved to his half-century from 132 balls, then decided it was time to up the tempo. A full range of T20 blows rained down thereafter, including a lap through fine leg off Chris Woakes and a trademark launch down the ground for six off the spin of Shoaib Bashir.
William O’Rourke provided Daryl Mitchell the support to keep England at bay for the next 13 overs. Mitchell did the bulk of the scoring in their 45-run stand for the last wicket while O’Rourke played the ideal second fiddle to help New Zealand post a respectable 254, stretching England’s target to 104 before, fittingly, Brydon Carse picked his Test career’s first six-wicket haul to dismiss the all-rounder in an extended morning session.
The lead had nudged past 100 as the umpires called for the extra half-hour before lunch, at which point England’s thoughts might have strayed to another memorable tenth-wicket stand at Christchurch, Nathan Astle’s 222 onslaught alongside Chris Cairns in 2002. Brydon Carse, however, was not going to be denied. Back he came for yet another spell, and in his second over, he induced the error with another heavy length that Mitchell was unable to launch over Woakes at long-off.
Brydon Carse left the field with match figures of 10 for 106, the best by any England bowler overseas since Monty Panesar at Mumbai in 2012-13, and a feat unmatched by an England quick since Ryan Sidebottom at Hamilton in 2008. Neither James Anderson nor Stuart Broad, whose legendary partnership began one Test after Sidebottom’s feat, ever managed such a haul away from home.
England’s chase began after the delayed lunch break, and for precisely 15 balls, New Zealand put up a fight. Zak Crawley, fresh from a first-innings duck, duly poked a return catch in Henry’s first over to troop off for 1 – the worst return by an England opener since Mike Atherton made a pair at Johannesburg in 1999-2000 – and a continuation of his abject record against New Zealand: 168 runs at 9.88 in 17 innings.
After Lunch, Ben Duckett was beaten by Southee a couple of times in the opening over but it was Henry who struck at the other end for the early breakthrough. Zak Crawley endured a double failure in the Test, caught by Henry off his own bowling after making just one. Duckett then slammed Southee for back-to-back fours to signal England’s intent, quickly switching to Bazball mode given the tiny target. The next Southee over yielded 16 including a top-edge for a six over the bowler’s head.
New Zealand promptly brought a bowling change with debutant Nathan Smith taking over from the retiring pacer, but it was Jacob Bethell who found the fence four times in his opening over itself to take England past the 50-run mark in the seventh over itself. William O’Rourke temporarily managed to pull things back when he had Duckett caught at third man, but the relief only lasted two balls as new batter Joe Root finished the over with a hat-trick of fours to keep the tempo up.
Root put England in the 90s with his first six of the innings, and Bethell did the same on the other side of drinks before registering the winning runs – and his 37-ball half-century with it – as the visitors took less than 13 overs to polish off the target.
Duckett, meanwhile, was briefly given a working-over by Southee, but only because he was treating him with the respect that his legendary career deserves. Midway through his second over, he chose to bin the deference, starting with a scoop over fine leg from way outside off, and culminating in a 16-run third over that included a vast six over fine leg.
Bethell, similarly, had learned his lesson after a torrid baptism during England’s first innings. He was soon dancing down the pitch to hit Henry off his length, then exacted his revenge on Smith, the man who had dismissed him first time around. Four fours in a single over included a slap back past the bowler that had shades of Kevin Pietersen against Glenn McGrath at The Oval in 2005, and by the end of it, England were halfway to their target in a mere 42 balls.
Duckett died by the sword, upper-cutting O’Rourke’s first ball to deep third, while Root – fresh from his first-innings duck – got off his pair with a streaky edge for four but then added two more in consecutive balls to ensure there’d be no further mishaps.
By the end of it all, New Zealand had been flattened, at a run-rate of 8.21 an over, in a denouement that evoked their fourth-innings torments on the original Bazball series of 2022. Much has changed since then, of course, but hand this team a situation in which they can free their arms, and there are few more startling sights in world cricket.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Ben Stokes England winning skipper said : Very good, very happy with the way we fought the entire week. We were under pressure on the second day, 40 for 3, to go from then and get to a very likeable lead was good. You need a bit of luck on the way (on Harry Brook’s innings), but you need to make the innings count when the opposition drops catches. He’s an incredible player, an incredible batter who constantly looks to put the pressure on the opposition at all times.
Amazing, I’ve known Brydon since his Durham days, know his potential, to see him perform so well is amazing. He always gives his best with the ball and at all times. Chasing those sort of targets can be difficult, but everyone saw how we went about chasing them. Bethell (Jacob) has played in this manner in the white-ball format and he backed himself to score quickly.
(On his batting and injury) I found myself in a tricky place, put in a partnership with Brook, and the way the tail played, we have a pretty long batter order and it worked nicely. I hurt my back, but it was more about managing, and I had a heavy workload with 20 overs. But I’m fine and should be good to go for the second game. We’ll decide upon the team combination ahead of the next game.
Tom Latham New Zealand losing skipper said : We were pretty happy with our position (1st innings), we had our opportunities. Another day all the catches would’ve gone to hand, guys were not meaning to drop catches. Happens sometimes, that’s cricket. Hopefully we can do better next time. You always want more, had to build some partnerships. We had some but would be nice to extend them.
They have some quality players who put you under pressure. For everyone it’s about trying to contribute as best they can, I’m no different. We all keep working hard on producing runs and wickets. Guys will be working hard and hopefully we can come back hard in Wellington. From our point of view it’s always about staying level in any way we can. We’ll certainly be working hard on areas we need to improve on.
Brydon Carse Player of the Match for his 10 wickets said : Very proud with the outcome today, to win as a team is very satisfying, we were thrown certain challenges, but we stayed on with the plans and won as a team. Everyone was chipping in, conversations with Stokesy on the field placings and everything came off.
The surfaces in Pakistan were different – some pace and bounce which suited my style of bowling. Me and Gus (Atkinson) have a good understanding, we like to bat and I said to him that I edged him with the number of sixes.
Brydon Carse claimed his Test-best figures of 6 for 42, in the process becoming the first England seamer to take an overseas ten-wicket haul in 16 years, before Jacob Bethell capped the contest with an unbeaten fifty on debut, as New Zealand were hustled to an emphatic eight-wicket defeat in the first Test at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
Though Daryl Mitchell had delayed the inevitable with a doughty innings of 84 from 167 balls, 45 of which came in a spirited tenth-wicket stand with the steadfast Will O’Rourke, New Zealand’s eventual target of 104 was demolished in just 12.4 overs. Ben Duckett signaled the charge with an anarchic innings of 27 in 18 balls, while Joe Root capped his 150th Test with a no-less free-flowing 22 not out from 15.
The coup de grâce was applied by Bethell in a performance of rare precocity – 50 not out from 37 balls, featuring eight fours and a six – with his maiden half-century coming up with the winning pull shot to deep square leg.
Tom Latham has marked his home stint as full-time New Zealand’s captain with a loss. They were defending a rather modest total of 103, but they would have been confident considering they had defended 147 against India in Mumbai not so long ago. But the conditions were completely different – that was a confident team with the series in their bag and on a pitch that was spicy, here, it had flattened out and they had to face the brunt of England’s Bazball attack.
Zak Crawley capped a poor match with scores of 0 and 1, but Ben Duckett was in a real hurry. He made a 18-ball 27 that set the base for the chase with Bethell and Root providing the finishing touches. Truth to be told, this Test was won yesterday when England first ensured a big first-innings lead of 151 and then sliced through New Zealand’s middle-order with the semi-old ball. 10 wickets for Brydon Carse, whose hit the deck bowling suited the surface and he was probably the difference between the two teams.
On a pitch which kept getting flatter and flatter, Brydon Carse was the point of difference between the two teams. He bowled tireless spells and kept chipping away, eventually finishing with 10 for 106.
New Zealand came into the series knowing that they couldn’t afford any slip-ups if they were to make it to the #WTC2025 final, but they have been dealt a big blow in that quest here. They’ll now have to win the remaining two Tests and then hope for some luck coming their way. The two teams will be back at the Basin Reserve on Friday for the second Test.