England destroyed New Zealand in the first Test at Tauranga as Lancashire’s James Anderson created more history to add to his decorated career.

Anderson returned match figures of 7-54 as England beat their Kiwi counterparts by 267 runs.

His fellow opening bowler and friend Stuart Broad ripped through New Zealand’s top order in their second innings.

In doing so, the pair combined to become the most prolific bowling partnership in Test history.

The deadly duo first played a Test together in 2008, coincidentally in New Zealand.

Since then, they have been inseparable on and off the field.

Playing in their 133rd Test match together, Anderson and Broad became just the second pair to register 1000 wickets between them while playing in the same match.

Broad’s dismissal of Devon Conway on the third evening saw the pair surpass the legendary Australian combination of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

Anderson already holds the record for wickets by a fast bowler in Tests but this achievement will mean more to him.

He gets to share the accolade with someone who feels more like a brother than a teammate.

At 40 and 36 respectively, England will soon have to look beyond Anderson and Broad but supporters will hope that isn’t any time soon. 

England stamp authority over hosts

The tourists set the tone from ball one with their aggressive approach.

Quickfire eighties from opener Ben Duckett and young prodigy Harry Brook helped England to a total of 325.

After a bold declaration from Ben Stokes, England gained a slender lead on first innings despite a battling century from New Zealand wicket-keeper, Tom Blundell.

England’s batters continued to play without fear in the second innings and gained a significant advantage.

There were half centuries for Joe Root, Ben Foakes and a second of the match for Brook.

Later, on the third evening of this day/night Test, the match was effectively won.

With his legs pumping, Broad put in a magical spell to tear through the Black Caps’ line-up.

England wrapped up the win on day four to go 1-0 up in the two-match series.

New Lancashire signing Daryl Mitchell showed some brief resistance towards the end with an unbeaten 57.

However, it was only delaying the inevitable as the hosts were well beaten.

Fittingly, Anderson claimed the final wicket to give England a 10th win in their last 11 matches.

The two sides reconvene in Wellington at 10pm Thursday (UK time) as England look to seal a first series win in New Zealand for 15 years.  

(Featured pic by NAPARAZZI under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 CC-BY-SA-2.0)

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