England heading for series-clinching win over New Zealand

England were cruising towards a series-clinching victory in Wellington, where the 36th century of Joe Root’s career left New Zealand facing a heavy defeat in the second Test.

Root hit 106 to move joint fifth on the all-time list of hundred scorers, allowing the tourists to declare with a massive lead of 582.

An increasingly bedraggled New Zealand then stumbled to 59 for four, Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse sharing the wickets, before Tom Blundell held up the charge.

Carse had him dropped on nought by Jacob Bethell and the wicketkeeper responded with a plucky 86 not out as the Black Caps reached 199 for six at tea. His resistance looked likely to be little more than window dressing, though, with England closing in on an unassailable 2-0 scoreline.

Should they complete the job it would end a two-year wait for a second away series win of the Bazball era, after a 1-1 draw on their last trip to New Zealand and losses in India and Pakistan this year.

England’s progress was serene for the most part but it was a tricky afternoon for Shoaib Bashir, who took one for 73 from 14 overs bowling in heavy winds at Basin Reserve.

England’s position already looked impregnable at the start of play, 533 ahead and with five second-innings wickets still in hand.

Incredibly, after just two days of action, they found themselves weighing up their likely declaration. First, though, they wanted Root to reach his landmark and level India’s Rahul Dravid haul of centuries.

He did not keep his team-mates waiting for long, converting his overnight 73 in just 21 balls to make it six in 2024. With New Zealand going through the motions he helped himself to five boundaries, the last of which brought took him to his hundred in brazen fashion.

On 98 he dropped to his knees to play the reverse ramp against Will O’Rourke, tumbling to the floor and just clearing the wicketkeeper. It was hardly his most elegant moment but he saw the funny side, grinning as he charged to celebrate with Stokes at the non-striker’s end.

Root hammered the next ball for four but was caught one-handed by Blundell from the one after that, with Stokes immediately concluding the innings despite sitting on 49 not out.

The winning line looked impossibly far but New Zealand would have hoped to improve on their dire first-attempt of 125 all out. Yet there was more of the same as Devon Conway played around a seaming delivery from Woakes to fall for a duck.

The left-hander has become a walking wicket for England, making 21 runs in four innings so far, but Williamson remains a most valuable scalp. Woakes got that one for just four, grazing Williamson’s outside edge with one that shaped in and held its line.

The tame resistance continued when Carse entered the attack and took exactly two deliveries to open his account, tumbling to his right to hold a return catch one-handed as home captain Latham drove with a crooked bat.

And Carse added a fourth before lunch when he tempted the out-of-sorts Rachin Ravindra, to flash a catch behind with just six to his name.

England may well have wrapped it up in the afternoon session had Bethell held on to Blundell when he fenced Carse into the cordon, but cashed in his extra life to tune of 11 fours and three sixes.

Bashir came in for some heavy hits as he attempted unsuccessfully to lock down an end in blustery conditions, but he did bowl Glenn Phillips (16) to edge England closer. Atkinson, who ended New Zealand’s first innings with a hat-trick on Saturday, had Daryl Mitchell caught behind.