Brook hands England control after stuttering start

(ESPNCRICINFO)

- Harry

Brook came into the Wellington Test in possession of some of the most outrageous stats in the history of the game for a batter at the start of their career - and promptly turned the amps up to 11 with an astonishing display on day one at the Basin Reserve.

It began with Brook tip-toeing to the crease amid the wreckage of England’s top order, as New Zealand’s reshaped seam attack capitalised on helpful morning conditions to reduce the tourists to 21 for 3. He walked off with the weather closing in again, but with England in a far sunnier mood. In between times, Brook had peeled off a career-best 184 not out from 169 balls, taking his Test average above 100 (and with a strike rate of 99.38 into the bargain).

Oh, and Joe Root scored an immaculate, unbeaten hundred, too.

Their unbroken stand of 294, already the third-highest for England’s fourth wicket in Tests, turned the tables completely on New Zealand after they had made what seemed an impeccable start on winning the toss and choosing to bowl for the second week running

As in Mount Maunganui, England’s aggression helped wrest the initiative away - by the time the forecast rain arrived midway through the evening session their overall run rate was 4.84. But that only told part of the story, with Brook and Root employing different methods to counterattack after Matt Henry and Tim Southee had made the early incisions on a green pitch that was expected to flatten out.

Brook, as has been his wont during a patch of regal scoring that began with a century in his second match, in Rawalpindi before Christmas, chose barely fettered aggression throughout his innings . Southee was dispatched for three consecutive boundaries in his fifth over, and that set the tone for Brook’s approach; in all,

24 fours and five sixes came from his bat during another coruscating display. He moved to fifty just before lunch, as England reached the break on a more even keel, then raised a 107ball hundred - his fourth in nine Test innings - during the afternoon session, during