Brook's magnificent 132 puts England in commanding position against New Zealand

On day two in Christchurch, a brave and unstoppable Harry Brook delivered a magnificent century to propel England ahead in the first Test against a mistake-ridden New Zealand.

At stumps Brook was 132 not out with the visitors recovering from 71-4 to be 319-5, trailing the hosts by 29 runs and with five wickets in hand.

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transform: rotate(32deg); animation: shinerMooving 3s infinite; z-index: 1; filter: blur(1px); } @keyframes shinerMooving { 0% { left: -40px; } 100% { left: 150%; } } Top 15 buys at IPL 2025 Auction Rishabh Pant ₹ 27 Cr DC LSG Total Match 111 Total Runs 3284 Highest Score 128 runs Shreyas Iyer ₹ 26.75 Cr KKR PBKS Total Match 115 Total Runs 3127 Highest Score 96 runs Venkatesh Iyer ₹ 23.75 Cr KKR KKR Total Match 50 Total Runs 1326 Highest Score 104 runs Wickets 3 Best Bowling 2/29 Arshdeep Singh ₹ 18 Cr PBKS PBKS Total Match 65 Total Runs 29 Highest Score 10 runs Wickets 76 Best Bowling 5/32 Yuzvendra Chahal ₹ 18 Cr RR PBKS Total Match 260 Total Runs 37 Highest Score 8 runs Wickets 205 Best Bowling 5/40 Jos Buttler ₹ 15.75 Cr RR GT Total Match 107 Total Runs 3582 Highest Score 124 runs KL Rahul ₹ 14 Cr LSG DC Total Match 132 Total Runs 4683 Highest Score 132 runs Trent Boult ₹ 12.50 Cr RR MI Total Match 104 Total Runs 83 Highest Score 17 runs Wickets 121 Best Bowling 4/18 Jofra Archer ₹ 12.50 Cr MI RR Total Match 35 Total Runs 195 Highest Score 27 runs Wickets 46 Best Bowling 3/15 Josh Hazlewood ₹ 12.50 Cr RCB RCB Total Match 12 Total Runs - Highest Score - Wickets 12 Best Bowling 3/24 Mohammed Siraj ₹ 12.25 Cr RCB GT Total Match 93 Total Runs 109 Highest Score 14 runs Wickets 93 Best Bowling 4/21 Mitchell Starc ₹ 11.75 Cr KKR DC Total Match 41 Total Runs 105 Highest Score 29 runs Wickets 51 Best Bowling 4/15 Phil Salt ₹ 11.50 Cr DC RCB Total Match 21 Total Runs 653 Highest Score 89 runs Ishan Kishan ₹ 11.25 Cr MI SRH Total Match 105 Total Runs 2644 Highest Score 99 runs Wickets - Best Bowling - Jitesh Sharma ₹ 11 Cr PBKS RCB Total Match 40 Total Runs 730 Highest Score 49 runs Check Full Coverage

Captain Ben Stokes was unbeaten on 37 after being dropped by Tom Latham on 30 New Zealand's sixth dropped catch and the third by their skipper.

After England's woeful start the 25-year-old Brook, in partnership with Ollie Pope, went on the attack.

Aided by luck from poor fielding and several edges sailing just wide or over slips, the pair belted 151 off 171 deliveries for the fifth wicket.

Brook was dropped four times on 18, 41, 70 and 106 with the last detected by television replays after the umpire ruled the ball spilled by wicketkeeper Tom Blundell was byes.

England's batting onslaught came as the cloud cover which aided the New Zealand seamers in the first session gave way to blue skies. - Stunning Phillips -

New Zealand, 319-8 overnight, were all out for 348 and then reduced England to 45-3 by lunch.

When Ben Duckett went for 46 after lunch England were on the ropes at 71-4, but it would be 30 overs before New Zealand claimed their next wicket.

Pope was on 77 with eight fours to his credit when he slashed at a wide delivery from Tim Southee and a diving Glenn Phillips grabbed a stunning one-handed catch.

He threw his arms in the air in celebration, in stark contrast to when he put his head in his hands earlier after Devon Conway dropped Brook off his bowling.

In the early cloudy conditions the New Zealand seamers were in their element with plenty of movement.

A Matt Henry delivery that nipped in trapped Zak Crawley lbw without scoring.

Debutant Nathan Smith followed with an angled delivery to Jacob Bethell which was edged to Blundell and England's debutant was gone for 10.

Four balls later, of which two were no balls, a similar angled delivery cramped Joe Root in his 150th Test for room and it deflected off his pads and on to the stumps for nought.

Duckett refused to be subdued and chanced his arm at anything loose.

He was dropped by Latham on 23 and survived two inside-edges before he pulled a rising Will O'Rourke delivery to Conway waiting on the boundary.

In the following over Brook was dropped for the first time and momentum began to shift in England's favour.

The partnership with Pope galloped along at five an over and Brook brought up is seventh Test century steering a Tim Southee delivery past backward point to the boundary.

New Zealand had added a further 29 runs to their overnight 319-8, the bulk of them by Phillips.

He ended unbeaten on 58, his fifth half-century and the second-highest New Zealand score behind Kane Williamson's 93.

Brydon Carse finished with 4-64, the best figures for England, after taking both wickets to fall on the second morning.

With his first ball of the day he had Southee caught on the boundary for 15, then ended the hosts' innings by bowling O'Rourke for a duck.

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