Wood enjoys limelight with bat on opening day

Mark Wood spent the winter dreaming of a hero’s return for England but got a significant variation on the story he envisaged in Christchurch.

Wood, in his first Test since last July following a lengthy recurrence of the ankle injuries which have been the bane of his professional life, helped Jonny Bairstow turn the tourists’ fortunes around against New Zealand.

Instead of a maiden five-wicket haul on day one of this second and final Test, No 9 Wood hit a career-best 52 as he and Bairstow (97not out) engineered a recovery from 164 for seven to 290 for eight.

The increasingly adventurous stand of 95 between two cricketers who have known one another more than half their lives offset eight wickets shared by Tim Southee and Trent Boult.

Wood said: “The worrying thing is I’ve got a (Test) 50 before a five-for – so I’ve done that the wrong way round, haven’t I?

“But I loved batting out there with Jonny, a lad I’ve played with and against since about 11 or 12 years old.

“I had loads of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

His only regret was the timing of his dismissal, Southee’s fifth victim, leaving debutant Jack Leach with a tough challenge – to which he rose – as he and Bairstow closed out the day.

“I was just more disappointed I got out the last ball before the second new ball, having worked so hard, to leave Leachy on his debut going in against the new ball.

“I like that bit of arrogance about the way Jonny bats ... it takes the bowlers off their gameplan, and maybe there was a little bit of panic stations at one point.”

There was little to cheer New Zealand as Bairstow and Wood launched the recovery following an earlier collapse of three wickets for one run.