Lunch New Zealand 125 and 59 for 4 (Mitchell 20*, Blundell 0*) need a further 524 to beat England 280 and 427 for 6 dec (Root 106, Bethell 96, Duckett 92, Brook 55)
England ripped out four wickets before lunch on day three at Basin Reserve as they galloped towards what would be their first series win in New Zealand since 2007-08.
That only increased as Woakes, bowling into a strong wind, struck with his seventh delivery. Devon Conway perhaps made it look better than it was, leaving a big gap between bat and pad, but there was much to admire about Woakes’ wobble-seam nip-backer that kissed the top of off.
Woakes then claimed the prize scalp of Kane Williamson with one that kicked up and left the New Zealand No. 3 for a fine edge through to Ollie Pope.
Tom Latham picked off three boundaries before becoming the third wicket to fall, Carse plunging acrobatically to his right in his follow through to hold a return catch off a leading edge. Daryl Mitchell offered bristling resistance but the score became 59 for 4 when Carse had Rachin Ravindra edging behind trying to force a cut, the batter looking to the skies as the rain began to fall.
Earlier, England batted on for 6.3 overs before declaring their innings closed. That was enough time for Root to notch his 36th Test hundred, his dismissal two balls later allowing Ben Stokes to pull the plug.
The morning session came with the famed Wellington winds buffeting the ground, but unlikely to blow England off course; their record second-innings advantage of 533 after two days of play a clear indicator of which side was on top.
Stokes had swung for the pickets from the off on the second evening, and began by swiping two off Will O’Rourke’s opening delivery. Not many came out of the middle initially, but with New Zealand spreading the field, easy runs were on offer for the sixth-wicket pair.
Matt Henry missed a sharp return chance off a Stokes’ drive in the second over, before Root clubbed the first boundary through midwicket. He picked up two more fours in Henry’s next over to move into the 90s, another glance off O’Rourke then persuading New Zealand to take the second new ball.
Root had batted serenely, and went to his pet shot with the hundred in sight. This time the reverse-ramp came off his gloved hand as he tumbled over in the crease, but cleared Tom Blundell and bounced away for four to bring up three figures, an impudent smile on the face of England’s record run-scorer.
He hit the next ball in orthodox style through long-off, before a thick edge was well held by the diving Blundell to give the deserving O’Rourke a wicket. At which point Root and Stokes charged off, ready to get going in England’s pursuit of 10 wickets.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick
