Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell centuries put England firmly in command of the third Test against New Zealand yesterday as they ended day three with a 501-run second innings lead.
Strauss remained unbeaten on a career-best 173, with England on 416 for five.
He had earlier shared in a 187-run stand for the fourth wicket with Bell, who was out for 110.
PHOTO: AFP
In this series-deciding third and final encounter New Zealand will again face a world record fourth innings target after being asked to chase 438 in the second Test in Wellington and falling 126 runs short.
New Zealand won the first Test in Hamilton by 189 runs.
Strauss, who was handed a lifeline by being selected for this England squad after missing the previous series against Sri Lanka, had failed to excite in his early outings in New Zealand.
England resumed the day at 91 for two and the only wicket to fall in the first session was first innings centurion Kevin Pietersen, who was neatly caught by Ross Taylor at slip.
Pietersen went to turn Daniel Vettori down the leg side only to have the ball deflect off the back of the bat for Taylor to pick up diving to his right.
Strauss, meanwhile, continued undaunted by his first innings duck after arriving at the crease in the first over of England's second innings with the early dismissal of captain Michael Vaughan.
The South African-born left-hander brought up his 50 driving Chris Martin straight to the boundary and his century came slashing Martin for four.
He offered one chance when on 62 when he struck out at Vettori but the ball hit Matthew Bell in the chest at short leg and bounced out.
It was a rather sedate morning session for England when they scored just 76 runs, before adding 135 between lunch and tea and another 114 after tea.
Ian Bell, who arrived at the wicket with Pietersen's dismissal, went hunting runs from the start, proving the wicket was batsman friendly despite New Zealand's spectacular collapse when they lost nine wickets for 65 runs on the second day.
Unlike Strauss, who took 225 deliveries to reach his century, Bell hooked Martin to the boundary to reach his milestone in 150 balls in an innings that included 16 fours and two sixes.
But his flamboyant knock came to a tame end when he half-heartedly drove Vettori straight to Mathew Sinclair at mid-off.
Vettori also removed Paul Collingwood for 22 with a straight forward caught and bowled, leaving Tim Ambrose, unbeaten on 28, with Strauss at the close.
New Zealand captain Vettori was the only successful bowler on the day, taking all three wickets to fall and finishing with figures of three for 135 off 40 overs.
When England declare it will be a tough task for New Zealand, whose highest successful run chase was 324 for five against Pakistan.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
FINAL WEEK LOOMS: PSG rose to 22nd place to set up another tense challenge against 24th-placed Stuttgart, while Man City require victory against Club Brugge Manchester City are on the brink of a humiliating UEFA Champions League exit after a stunning loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, while Real Madrid is no longer at risk after routing Salzburg. Man City blew a two-goal lead in a high-stakes clash of super-wealthy underachievers that PSG won 4-2 in Paris, who could still be eliminated alongside the English champions after the final round of games next week. Only the top 24 in the 36-team standings are to advance. Man City, the 2023 champions, are in 25th place, but could squeeze into the knockout playoffs round by beating Club Brugge. “We will
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
RSS