Williamson rejects claim England will stay in action in Christchurch

Spinner Shoaib Bashir took four for 69 on the opening day of the evenly balanced first test on Thursday as England recovered from a poor start to reduce New Zealand to 319 for eight.

Seamers Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse also grabbed a couple of wickets as the tourists held New Zealand back when they looked to move away from Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.

Kane Williamson was dismissed seven runs short of a hundred, Black Caps skipper Tom Latham was three shy of his quickfire half-century and four wickets were taken at the cost of 59 runs just after tea.

Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry put together a stand of 46 for the eighth wicket to steady the innings but the latter fell out for 18 to give Bashir his fourth wicket.

Phillips would continue on 41 alongside Tim Southee, who made 10, with the final runs likely to have put New Zealand ahead in an intriguing contest.

“I think both teams have worked really hard and from our perspective, I think we’re happy with the partnerships,” Williamson said.

“But when you have the ball in your hands and you get some work done, you always know there are going to be opportunities.

“So there was a good fight there and they got some honors later in the day. So yeah, I think both teams will be pleased with their efforts.”

England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bowl a green wicket, but New Zealand denied him the early entry into the batting order he wanted.

Atkinson got an almost immediate comeback when he dismissed Devon Conway for two in the second over, while Carse also pounced to stop Latham with a lead on 47 before lunch.

Williamson and Rachin Ravindra put on 68 for the third wicket, but not before Stokes brought on youngster Bashir, who separated them with a full delivery.

Ravindra took the delivery but managed to punch it straight to Zak Crawley at mid-wicket, the all-rounder nodding as he trudged off the field with 34 runs to his name.

Williamson, who was ruled out of the last series victory in India due to a groin strain, smashed successive boundaries off Bashir to make a half-century off 90 balls and move towards his 33rd test century.

New Zealand headed to tea at 193-3 but England turned the tables after the second break with a short ball delivery which had an almost immediate effect.

While Daryl Mitchell (19) hid in the deep off Carse, Tom Blundell (17) and new skipper Nathan Smith (3) dropped to catch Bashir’s bowling, aided by some ill-advised deliveries from the home batsmen.

The key, of course, was Williamson, who fell in the 90s for the first time since 2018 as he tried to get around an Atkinson delivery but managed to show it to Crawley.