England dismissed in 94 minutes by New Zealand
New Zealand 175-3
England 58
The good news for England is that there is rain forecast for much of the remaining four days of this first Test against New Zealand.
But the bad news is surely not even that can save them from an ignominious defeat after they were dismissed for just 58 inside the first session at Eden Park.
Joe Root’s team were blown away in 94 minutes as they registered their country’s sixth-lowest total in 141 years of Test cricket.
Even the official England cricket Twitter account admitted: “We’ve had a shocker.”
Given they were 27 for nine at one stage, things could have been even worse. England’s lowest Test total is still the 45 they managed against Australia at Sydney in 1887.
Yet the fact that unwanted record still stands is only down to a plucky unbeaten 33 from Craig Overton, who scored more than half of his team’s runs from No9 after only being picked here after Ben Stokes’ bad back meant he was selected as a specialist batsman in his first Test in six months.
Trent Boult was England’s chief destroyer, the left-arm seamer taking a career-best 6-32. He was supported by Tim Southee, whose return of 4-25 meant New Zealand’s new-ball pair became only the eighth in history to bowl unchanged throughout an entire Test innings.
To think what Boult and Southee might have achieved with the pink ball under lights in this day-night Test doesn’t bear thinking about for England. What happened in broad daylight was gruesome enough.