Joe Root returned to form with a classy double-century as England give themselves a shot at victory in the second Test in New Zealand.
The England skipper has been under-fire in recent weeks after managing just 2 and 11 in the first Test, with question marks over his batting average as captain.
However, his 226-run response to his critics has given England a 101-run advantage over New Zealand before the hosts posted 96-2 heading into the final day.
The visitors will need to bowl New Zealand out on a flat pitch, and better their score with the bat, in order to avoid a draw and a series loss.
In the first innings, New Zealand racked up 375 with Tom Latham posting a century and Watling, Taylor and Mitchell all contributed half-centuries.
Stuart Broad was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Woakes impressed on his reselection (3-83). However, Archer struggled, taking just one wicket as England laboured to take quick wickets on a flat pitch.
England responded with 476 runs, and Root was backed up by a typically gritty Burns century. Ollie Pope was forced to adapt his game and bat long to reach 75 runs, but he impressed in amongst a plethora of low scores around him in the batting order.
Neil Wagner continued to take wickets against the visitors, terrorising England’s lower-order to claim his second five-for of the series.
New Zealand ended the day on 96-2 as they look to bat long and play for the draw, with superstar captain Kane Williamson set to start the day on 37 runs.
By contrast, England will need to pull out all the stops to bowl the hosts out as quickly as possible, whilst leaving themselves enough time to close the gap before stumps.
Photo by Ben Sutherland, under creative commons license.
