Nottingham: Openers Devon Conway and Tom Latham dominated the England bowlers with sporadic centuries as New Zealand dominated the opening day of the third and final Test of the series at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.
At the end of day one, the visitors were 361/4 in 84.1 overs with nightwatchman Will O’Rourke unmarked at the crease, who will open the innings again on day two alongside middle-order batsman Daryl Mitchell.
After New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss and elected to bat first, he teamed up with his opening partner Devon Conway to overwhelm England’s bowling with a mammoth 317-run partnership that lasted until the last session.
The longest stand of 317 runs by New Zealand openers against England was finally caught off the first ball of the 73rd over by hosts skipper Ben Stokes to his Blackcaps counterpart.
Frustrated by his dismissal, Latham departed after scoring 151 off 214 balls with 15 fours.
On the other hand, Conway followed suit exactly one over later as Joe Root caught him at long-on. He was New Zealand’s highest scorer with 157 runs off 224 balls with 22 fours and 3 sixes.
Following their back-to-back dismissals, top-order batsman Henry Nicholls took control of New Zealand’s batting journey and put together a crucial 42-run partnership with Rachin Ravindra, who scored 7 off 22 balls, until he fell to Gus Atkinson in the last delivery of the 84th over.
Jofra Archer dismissed Nicholls on the first ball of the next over, prompting the umpires to call it a day. The left-handed batsman scored 36 runs off 48 balls with 6 fours.
On the England side, Root, Atkinson, Archer, Stokes have taken one wicket each.