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Southee's Perfect Goodbye: New Zealand's Astonishing Win in Final 3rd Test Match.

NEW ZEALAND VS ENGLAND, 3RD TEST MATCH , HAMILTON : Southee’s Perfect Goodbye: New Zealand’s Astonishing Win in Final 3rd Test Match.

New Zealand dismantled England’s batting lineup on Tuesday, triumphing over the visitors by 423 runs in the third Test and providing Tim Southee with a fitting send-off into retirement. The home team delivered an impressive performance in Hamilton by taking seven wickets in just 41.2 overs on the fourth day, reducing England to 234 all out. This victory matched New Zealand’s largest win by runs and marked a dramatic turnaround from the first two Tests, which England won comfortably to secure the three-match series. Southee’s Perfect Goodbye: New Zealand’s Astonishing Win in Final 3rd Test Match.

TOSS

England won the toss and elected to bowl.

New Zealand Squad:

Tom Latham (c), Will Young, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, William O’Rourke

England Squad:

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope (wk), Ben Stokes (c), Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir

DAY 1

Latham and Young began positively, driving a few balls to the boundary after England gave away eight extras. The batters consistently found the boundary in the opening session through either perfect drives or fortunate edges. England’s review for a caught behind against Tom Latham was wasted, as the ball merely straightened past the keeper. It was an outstanding session for New Zealand as they accumulated 93 without loss by lunch.

TOM LATHAMThe trend appeared set to continue in the subsequent session as Latham hit Carse for three consecutive boundaries. However, Atkinson found swing against Young, who edged to the slip cordon after compiling a solid 42. Latham soon reached his half-century, while Williamson looked in great form again. Stokes and Potts applied pressure with a couple of maidens before Potts dismissed Latham, caught down the leg side.

At tea, New Zealand stood at 173 for 3, with Kane Williamson delivering some exquisite drives before his innings ended abruptly by a chop-on to his stumps. Daryl Mitchell, after 19 balls, opened his account with consecutive boundaries but was soon caught by Ben Stokes off Atkinson after an aerial drive. Atkinson also became just the second player to take 50 wickets in his debut Test calendar year.

Matthew Potts and Gus Atkinson each secured three wickets, while Brydon Carse added two to his tally. Captain Tom Latham and Mitchell Santner both scored half-centuries, with Santner still at the crease going into Day 2. Several other New Zealand batsmen made good starts but failed to capitalize into substantial scores.

DAY 2-

Santner, partnered with No.11 batter William O’Rour, began the day cautiously. Together, they added 32 runs over 15.1 overs until the talented Matthew Potts shattered Santner’s stumps, leaving the hosts at a commendable 347.

The English openers introduced an exhilarating display of strokes, with Ben Duckett driving Henry to the boundary in the first over. Zak Crawley followed with a flurry, sending Tim Southee for four boundaries in his opening over, catapulting the visitors to 30 without loss in just three overs. However, Henry managed to extract a leading edge from Crawley, diving forward to secure a smart catch. This opening partnership of 32 was England’s finest in the series. Henry continued his momentum a few balls later, trapping Duckett LBW as he misjudged a well-pitched delivery swinging back in.

Joe Root exhibited remarkable form during his innings of 32, freely finding boundaries behind square on the leg side. Jacob Bethell, who was earlier put under pressure by a maiden over from O’Rourke, was caught after a slash at a wide delivery. The visitors faced further challenges as series top-scorer Harry Brook was bowled first ball, leaving England struggling at 77 for 4.

MATT HENRYO’Rourke narrowly missed a hat-trick but claimed the crucial wicket of Root, who cut late but only found the gully fielder. In an effort to halt the slide, Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope shared a 52-run partnership, managing to disrupt O’Rourke’s rhythm. This prompted Tom Latham to turn to Santner, who quickly made an impact, capturing Pope as he edged to slip. The insightful left-arm spinner then sent Stokes back to the pavilion, trapping him LBW after a missed sweep.

Henry and Santner swiftly captured the last three wickets, with England capitulating to 143, losing their last five wickets for a paltry nine runs.

Despite boasting a 204-run lead, the hosts opted not to enforce the follow-on, and Will Young pounced on a loose delivery to kickstart the New Zealand innings confidently. The English bowlers, under pressure, over-pitched, allowing regular boundaries.

Fortune favored England when Atkinson got Latham with his bowling. Following suit from the first session, Kane Williamson displayed elegant poise, starting with two boundaries. The hosts maximized the ideal batting conditions, amassing an 89-run stand in under 18 overs. Young rewarded selectors’ trust with a solid 50 but fell 10 runs later after miscuing a pull to deep mid-wicket. Nightwatchman O’Rourke had a brief stay, but Williamson, resilient as ever, reached his 50 in the day’s final over. The hosts now possess a commanding 340-run lead, exuding optimism for the remainder of the match.

DAY 3-

KANE WILLIAMSONIt was Williamson, who scored his 33rd Test century, who anchored the New Zealand innings, and he shared decent partnerships of 107 with Rachin Ravindra (44) and 92 with Daryl Mitchell (60). So it continued, England’s toil accentuated as the lead passed 500 against a relentless batting display. On top of it all, England were deprived of the service of their captain Ben Stokes during the innings, who walked off midway through his 13th over nursing his left hamstring, leaving them one bowler short.

And it set the scene for New Zealand to dig in and grind the attack out in the manner put down in the opening stages, by Williamson and Ravindra. The former survived a close LBW shout and had a couple of miscue-fours fly over the in-fielder’s head against Shoaib Bashir’s offspin but was calculative around it. He teased his hundred up with a six straight down the ground of Jacob Bethell. It was his seventh Test century at Seddon Park and an unprecedented five in succession at the venue. It kept its successful tour in personal front rolling with two fifties before this.

Mitchell Santner used the long handle to good effect down the order swinging his way to 49 with Tom Blundell as England started bringing in their part-timers. Root went for more than 20 in his first over but broke through himself getting Santner caught before Tim Southee, in his final Test, arrived. And England came out for the second time to a guard of honour in front of a helmeted crowd but the innings was ended not long after, with Bethell clinching both Southee (caught at long-on) and Matt Henry in successive balls. It set England a huge target of 658 to chase down.

By stumps, England had lost both their openers in the limited time they had left. Duckett whacked Southee down the ground for a four but the veteran had the last laugh as he had Duckett chop on in the same over. The same bowler who had caught out Zak Crawley five times in the series, he got an LBW call overturned on review once. Henry, but one more nipped in and caught him similar just in front, the review staying with the umpire’s call this time, in one hell of a boost for New Zealand by day three’s end.

DAY 4-

With Ben Stokes unwilling to bat in his injured state, England were already a batter down, while the prospect of chasing 659 was always going to loom large. With their openers already back in the hut thanks to the previous evening’s dismissal of Debutant Jacob Bethell and Joe Root went on the attack.

The pair lived by the sword, and it was effective for a time, with a couple of close calls. Root had been dropped, on 19, when Tom Latham fumbled a slip catch off Southee, but beat himself up over it as Bethell and he teed off for the boundaries. The pair put on 104 runs for the third wicket off only 25 balls, with both batters reaching half-centuries. However, England’s game in the sun also did not last for long.

MITCHELL SANTNERRoot fell LBW when he missed a sweep off Mitchell Santner, and Will O’Rourke softened Harry Brook up, having him caught in the slip cordon not long after. Bethell, however, remained on the front foot, even hitting O’Rourke for three in one over as he motored into the seventies. Emotional entires invariably cost, and when he tried to smack the first ball of a new Southee spell straight to deep point, he paid the price. After 166/5 the wheels were coming off.

Gus Atkinson and Ollie Pope persevered with the bat until the latter fell descending to foot about against Matt Henry. Santner took some flak from Atkinson but ultimately had the last laugh when he trapped the batsman trying another big hit. Two balls later Potts fell in identical fashion as Brydon Carse came running out to be readily stumped to give Santner his fourth of the innings and seventh of the match, giving him, too, the Player of the Match award.

Scorecard:

New Zealand 347 (Mitchell Santner 76, Tom Latham 63; Matthew Potts 4-90, Gus Atkinson 3-66) and 453 (Kane Williamson 156, Will Young 60, Daryl Mitchell 60; Jacob Bethell 3-72) bt England 143 (Joe Root 32, Ben Stokes 27; Matt Henry 4-48, Mitchell Santner 3-7) & 234 (Jacob Bethell 76, Joe Root 54; Mitchell Santner 4-85) by 423 runs.

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