England got off to a poor start as they won the third Test by an unrealistic score of 658 runs on Monday after Kane Williamson’s century struck New Zealand’s advantage.
England were 18-2 after openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley were both dismissed in their six-over match in front of stumps in Hamilton on day three.
New Zealand were bowled out for 453 later in the day, needing eight wickets to claim a consolation win after England won the first two Tests with ease.
Only seven wickets may be needed, with doubts over whether the injured Ben Stokes will bat.
The England captain is being assessed after he sustained a hamstring injury while bowling, which forced him to limp off the field immediately.
Any hopes England had of setting a world record in the fourth innings were quickly dashed when Duckett charged up the pitch and batted for four.
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It handed the first wicket of the match to seamer Tim Southee, who played his 107th and final Test before retiring.
Crawley was stuck at wicket for five innings to complete a miserable series in which he lost all six innings to pacer Matt Henry, scoring just 52 in total in the process. point.
Jacob Bethell is at the crease at number nine and Joe Root is yet to score.
Earlier, heavy rain ruined the entire first match at Seddon Park but that didn’t stop Williamson from lifting from his overnight 50t to 33rd Test before setting off for 156t shortly after tea. .
He scored 105 for the third wicket in a partnership with Rachin Ravindra, who was joined by seamer Matthew Potts. ) led by 44 points.
Williamson left (2-170) while sweeping deep to Shoaib Bashir.
New Zealand’s greatest run-scorer hit 20 fours and one six, taking his career Test run score to 1,614 at Seddon Park, the highest score by any New Zealand batsman on any surface.
He scored hundreds in five consecutive Tests at home in the North Zone, averaging 94.94 in 21 innings.
Williamson passed a rigorous Brydon Carse LBW appeal review in the 73rd over and was later dropped by wicketkeeper Ollie Pope when a tough leg-side chance came from St. Spilled from Tox’s glove.
Daryl Mitchell was caught in the deep innings of 60 to provide part-time spinner Bethell with his first Test wicket and ended up taking 3-72 England’s best bowling figure.
Mitchell Santner also bowled Root on 49 and was just shy of consecutive half-centuries.
Southee scored two in the last Test and failed to add to his tally of 98 career Test sixes to fourth on the all-time list.
