STUART BROAD had one of those days when his emotions were a rollercoaster – but his bowling was consistently brilliant.
Broad captured two wickets and could have had more. He was happy, animated, furious and ultimately frustrated because England are in trouble in the second Test.
It would have been worse, too, if Dan Lawrence had not picked up his first Test wicket in the final over of the day.
Lawrence had New Zealand No 3 Will Young snaffled at short leg by Ollie Pope for 82.
The wicket followed Lawrence’s impressive and invaluable innings of 81 not out and means the match scorecard has now recorded knocks of 80, 81, 81 not out and 82!
While his mate Jimmy Anderson was serenaded for his record 162nd England cap, Broad was the man causing the Kiwis most problems.
He dismissed openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway and probed and pressurised all the batsmen with his swing and immaculate accuracy.
The brace took Broad’s Test tally to 520 wickets – one ahead of the great West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh and sixth on the all-time list.
By the close, however, England were in danger of being batted out of the match as New Zealand reached 229-3 – just 74 runs behind.
Broad should have removed Conway for 22 but the catch by Zak Crawley at third slip was controversially disallowed.
England bowling coach Jon Lewis said: “Stuart was outstanding and put in a real shift for the team and showed the way to all the guys.
“Dan’s first Test wicket was a great thing for him and a real bonus for us. It will make our lives easier on Saturday with a new ball due.”
When England fielded, Anderson rather than captain Joe Root led out the team to rapturous applause from the 18,000 crowd.
There were regular refrains all day of “Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy . . . Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy Anderson.”
But it was Broad who nailed Latham plumb lbw and then Young was badly dropped by Root at first slip off Olly Stone when he had made just seven.
Conway and Young put on 122 for the second wicket with few other alarms.
Conway, who scored a double century on his Test debut last week at Lord’s, continued his sublime form.
Eventually, and out of the blue, Conway flicked Broad straight into Crawley’s hands at deep square leg.
So Broad did have Conway caught by Crawley — but 58 runs after he should have done.
England managed to get the ball changed and the replacement swung and swerved all over the place.
Veteran Ross Taylor played and missed multiple times against Broad but somehow he survived.
He was given out lbw for 11 to Anderson but it was a poor decision by umpire Richard Illingworth and the review showed the ball missed leg stump by several inches.
Broad was superb, Anderson tidy and Mark Wood bowled OK. But Stone was disappointing on his home ground and his pace dropped noticeably as the day wore on.
Almost in desperation, Root turned to Lawrence’s off-the-wrong-foot offies.
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And with his eighth ball he dismissed Young, the man replacing injured captain Kane Williamson after scoring a couple of centuries for Durham earlier this summer.
It provided a shaft of light for England but they need more early wickets on Saturday.
Earlier, Wood had some fun with the bat, his five fours on day two and eighth-wicket partnership of 66 with Lawrence helping England beyond 300.
