Left Arm Around

Gus Atkinson took a brilliant hat-trick before England’s batters led them to a seismic 533 run lead on day two of the second Test in Wellington.

The Surrey paceman took the final three wickets to tumble as Nathan Smith was bowled for 14, Matt Henry fended a well directed short ball to slip and Tim Southee was struck plumb LBW.

England’s entire XI wheeled away in jubilant celebration before the umpire’s finger was even raised; with Southee’s optimistic review leading to no avail.

Atkinson became the 14th England man to take a Test hat-trick- and the first since Moeen Ali against South Africa in 2017.

Both Atkinson and Brydon Carse finished with four wickets apiece to dismiss the Black Caps for 125- a lead of 155 on first innings.

Zak Crawley came and went for 8 as Matt Henry dismissed him for the fourth time in as many innings, but a fine second wicket partnership of 187 between Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell left the Kiwis scratching their head for answers.

However, both Bethell (96) and Duckett (92) will be disappointed by their dismissals after narrowly missing out on tons.

Bethell reached his highest first-class score before nicking Tim Southee behind, while Duckett dragged on to the same bowler shortly after.

21-year-old Bethell was incredibly impressive in hitting his second Test fifty, striking ten tours and three big sixes.

Any hopes of a surprise Kiwi fightback were short-lived with Yorkshire pair Joe Root and Harry Brook also hitting fine fifties of their own.

Brook’s incredible love affair with overseas Tests continued, taking his tally to 1519 runs from 17 innings abroad.

Root remains unbeaten on 73 in pursuit of a 36th Test hundred, while captain Ben Stokes signalled his intentions with a breezy 35 not out.

Scoring at almost five runs per over to close 378-5, this was a perfect example of ‘Bazball’ in full effect.

With an enormous lead of 533- and plenty more potentially to come in the morning, can anything stop the tourists claiming their first series in New Zealand since 2008?

The Black Caps created history of with a famous one-victory at the last Test between these two sides at the Basin Reserve, however it’s very hard to imagine a route back from here!

Pacers create ‘perfect problem’

After a dramatic opening day which saw 15 wickets fall, the second day began in similar fashion as the visitors rammed home the advantage.

Brydon Carse continued his remarkable start to Test cricket to remove Blundell and O’Rourke in a matter of balls, the first of which hit the seam and crashed into off-stump.

But it will be Atkinson who steals all the headlines.

After taking ten on debut against West Indies at the home of cricket Lord’s, followed by a fantastic century at the same venue against Sri Lanka, Atkinson can add a Test hat-trick to his list of outstanding achievements in the span of only six months.

England’s batting depth appears strong than ever with Bethell hitting his stride straight away, and Jamie Smith primed to return in the future, yet in Atkinson and Carse, England have unearthed a couple of seamers seemingly capable of doing damage in any conditions.

The big question remains: if Mark Wood and Jofra Archer are back fit and firing, how do you fit these battery of pacers into one team?

A definite conundrum but there’s certainly worse problems to solve…