Courtesy: England Cricket
Harry Brook, the England batter, scored his eighth Test hundred on day one of the second Test of the three-match series against New Zealand at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. The counter attacking innings from the 25-year-old helped England reach a competitive score of 280 runs, and in his first comment after bringing up the milestone, he called it his “favourite hundred,” since it came under circumstances wherein the pitch was doing quite a lot.
After being up into bat first by New Zealand captain Tom Latham on their traditional green pitch at the start of the Test match, England lost their first four wickets for just 43 runs inside 13 overs. Harry Brook, who was new to the crease, had Ollie Pope for company in the middle, and the two right-handed batters counter attacked the Kiwi pacers in tough batting conditions, rode their luck, and stitched together a 174-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Harry Brook scored 123 runs in just 115 balls with 11 fours and five maximums
Following the dismissal of Ollie Pope for 66(78), the rest of the England batting order fell away as they were bowled out for 280 runs in 54.4 overs, but not before Harry Brook scored 123 runs in just 115 balls with 11 fours and five maximums. For New Zealand, Nathan Smith ended up taking four wickets despite going at over seven, while William O’Rourke and Matt Henry took three and two wickets each.
In response to England’s first innings at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, the New Zealand batting lineup were far from their best as they were reduced to 86/5 in 26 overs at stumps after Brydon Carse picked up a couple of wickets. In an interview after the close of play on day one, Harry Brook said the following about his latest Test hundred, as per Cricbuzz, “I think that might be my favourite hundred so far. I enjoyed that a lot.”
“It was just the circumstances really, it was 26 for 3 when I came in and the pitch was doing quite a bit. It was seaming and swinging and I'm just glad I put my attacking mode on and really took it to them and put them under pressure,” Harry Brook further added. He also acknowledged his triple hundred against Pakistan in Multan recently, but at the same time, felt that the pitch at the venue was “extremely flat.”
