Close – New Zealand 348 (Williamson 93, Phillips 58*, Carse 4-64, Bashir 4-69) and 155 for 6 (Mitchell 31*, Smith 1*) lead England 499 (Brook 171, Stokes 80, Pope 77, Henry 4-84) by four runsFor a man who answers – as modestly as one can – to the nickname “Wizard”, Chris Woakes’ overseas record has become such a millstone that, in December last year, the man himself all but conceded his days as a touring Test cricketer were over, when he was omitted from England’s trip to India.But the retirements of Stuart Broad and James Anderson, and England’s insistence that their remodelled Test attack still needs a wise old head to lead it, have redefined his role within the squad. On the third day at Christchurch, he delivered the spell that justified that faith; three top-drawer wickets in New Zealand’s second innings, including the priceless scalp of a well-set Kane Williamson, that have put England within sight of victory in the first Test.Woakes dovetailed superbly with Brydon Carse, the newest addition to that seam attack, who utilised his heavy ball and unstinting energy to bomb his way to three wickets of his own, including Rachin Ravindra to his first ball of the evening session, and Glenn Phillips in the day’s closing moments.After two days of even toil, England had secured a day of outright dominance. It was set in motion by their belligerent batting in an overcast morning session, in which Harry Brook’s mighty 171 underpinned a total of 499 in 103 overs, and Ben Stokes made a hard-hitting 80, his highest score since the 2023 Ashes. Some free-wheeling hitting from an allrounder-stacked tail then put the seal on their innings, with Gus Atkinson and Carse clattering a total of 81 runs from 60 balls between them.Duly emboldened by a lead of 151, Woakes carried that attacking mindset into the field, serving up a performance that evoked his series-turning displays in the 2023 Ashes. He had gone wicketless across 20 overs in the first innings, reiterating those doubts in the process, but this time found an extra degree of nip from a fractionally fuller length, to finish the day with figures of 3 for 39 in 13 overs – already his third-best figures in 41 overseas innings.Woakes’ first breakthrough came with his ninth delivery of the innings. Tom Latham had been New Zealand’s most fluent performer on the opening day with a quickfire 47, but this time he played fractionally across the line to a wobble-seam delivery that straightened into his edge and looped to Brook at second slip for 1.Carse, bursting with energy once more, then struck in his first over as Devon Conway scuffed a pull to mid-on, where Atkinson stooped to gather a brilliant reaction catch, inches from the turf.Brydon Carse claimed the key wicket of Devon Conway•Joe Allison/Getty Images
Williamson and Rachin Ravindra confirmed that the pitch was still perfectly playable in reaching tea unscathed in a third-wicket stand of 39, with Williamson notching his 9,000th run in the process. But that serenity was shattered when Carse returned for the second over after the break, with no slips in situ and a clear intention to play on the batter’s ego. Ravindra duly went for broke first-ball, and Jacob Bethell backpedalled well at deep square leg to snap the trap shut.At 64 for 3, New Zealand were in desperate need of a partnership, and in Williamson and Daryl Mitchell – their outstanding performer on the 2022 tour of England – they found two wise heads who drew the sting from the situation, and set about nudging their team back towards the lead. But Woakes’ second spell cracked that resolve wide open.The signs that he’d found his rhythm were plain when Williamson, fresh from making his second fifty in a Test for the tenth occasion in his career, was forced into a brace of awkward fences past gully, and in his next over he produced the killer blow – a superb inducker that started on a tight off-stump line and kept coming back into Williamson’s pads, leaving him blowing his cheeks in exasperation as he called for the futile review.One ball later, Woakes was on a hat-trick – mobbed by his ecstatic team-mates in the process – as the out-of-form Tom Blundell was undone by the opposite delivery, one that nipped half a bat’s width away, and grazed the thinnest of edges through to the keeper. Glenn Phillips kept the hat-trick delivery out, and subsequently managed to erase the remaining deficit, but he couldn’t hold out to the close. Carse went wide on the crease, hit the pitch hard once more to find nip back off the seam, and umpire Rod Tucker’s onfield lbw verdict was upheld on umpire’s call.It continued a remarkable turnaround from England, who had been on the ropes at 71 for 4 early in their first innings, but scarcely took a backwards step after resuming on 319 for 5 in the morning session, a deficit of 29. Brook and Stokes both emerged with belligerence, determined that they would not be caught cold under the morning cloud cover, as had been the case in their stuttering start to the innings, with Brook becoming only the third England batter after Wally Hammond and Joe Root to pass 150 twice in New Zealand.And yet, having survived four drops on the second day, Brook was gifted a fifth life on 147. Phillips – who had handed him his first reprieve on 18 before grabbing a screamer to dislodge Ollie Pope – made a mess of another relatively straightforward catch that bounced out of his grasp at gully.Harry Brook flashes one away behind square•Joe Allison/Getty Images
The new ball was Brook’s cue to take his innings into overdrive, particularly against Tim Southee, whom he launched onto the pavilion roof with one especially contemptuous swipe. Just when it seemed there was no respite in prospect, Brook nibbled tamely outside off at Matt Henry, and snicked off to Blundell behind the stumps. He left the stage with an overseas Test average of 89.40, and exactly 500 runs at 100.00 in New Zealand alone.Woakes would save his impact for the ball, as Southee found his edge for 1 with a trademark outswinger that Latham – the spiller of three chances on day two – scooped up low at second slip. But England have brought some rare batting depth to this Test, and Atkinson – a centurion against Sri Lanka in the summer – and Carse each came out swinging from the get-go.Atkinson brought up England’s 400 with a swivelled pull for six over square leg off Henry, en route to 48 from 36 balls, but the shot of the day was Carse’s outrageous, wristy lap over deep fine leg for the second of his three sixes. He was left unbeaten on 33 from 24 when Shoaib Bashir become Henry’s fourth of the innings, although he had been dropped off his sixth ball by Phillips in the over after lunch – the eighth lapse of New Zealand’s fielding effort, and the third by Phillips alone. For all the dominance that England had exerted by the close, it wasn’t hard to spot where the tide had turned.