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Gus Atkinson rocked New Zealand with a superb hat-trick before England’s batters stockpiled a huge lead on a dominant second day at the second Test in Wellington.
Atkinson joined of cricket’s most coveted clubs when he took out tailenders Nathan Smith, Matt Henry and Tim Southee with three successive deliveries, just the 15th time an English bowler has achieved the feat in Test cricket.
Having knocked over their hosts for just 125, England coasted to 215 for three at tea and a mammoth lead of 370. Rookie number three Jacob Bethell cracked 96 and Ben Duckett 92 but both fell just short of centuries
Bethell, 21, has never scored a professional hundred in any format and, having passed his previous best of 93, came within one blow of celebrating the milestone at the highest level.
After sharing a relentless stand of 187, Tim Southee dismissed the pair in quick succession – Bethell nicking through to the wicketkeeper and Duckett dragging down his stumps.
Earlier, Atkinson (four for 31) turned the spotlight firmly on himself as he brought New Zealand’s underwhelming innings to a shuddering halt in his fifth over of the day.
The 26-year-old’s magical sequence contained three different modes of dismissal, starting when he uprooted Smith’s middle stump via an ill-judged leave and a toe edge. He doubled up Henry backed away from a short ball that he fended to Duckett at gully.
Last man Southee stood between Atkinson and a place in the history books and he had no answer as the ball tailed in full and straight, smashing his front pad dead in front of middle stump.
Southee reviewed the lbw decision in hope more than expectation but England’s celebrations were already well under way. Rod Tucker raised his finger for a second time to seal the deal, with Atkinson registering the 50th Test hat-trick in world cricket – 47 in the men’s game and three in the women’s.
The last player to get one was South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj in 2021, with Moeen Ali the most recent to do so for England, against the Proteas at the Oval in 2017.
Brydon Carse (four for 46) started the rot when he dismissed Tom Blundell and Will O’Rourke in the space of three deliveries as New Zealand lost their last five batters for 39.
Zak Crawley hit the first two balls of England’s second innings for four but was unable to feed off the feelgood factor for long. He fell to Henry for the fourth time in a row, picking out midwicket to leave him with just 26 runs in the series so far.
That left Duckett and Bethell to take up the fight and they wasted no time extending England’s first-innings lead of 155.
There were seven fours and three pulled sixes before the lunch break as the game slipped ever further away from New Zealand. Bethell was looking particularly lively, channelling the freewheeling fifty he scored in the fourth innings at Christchurch last week.
He motored to another half-century in 52 balls, beating his partner by seven, punishing any opportunity to score behind square and unleashing the occasional furious drive.
The second-wicket pair scored hungrily as New Zealand tired, Duckett unleashing an uppercut and Bethell stepping back to slam the spin of Glenn Phillips for six more down the the ground.
The prospect of becoming England’s youngest centurion since Denis Compton in 1939 was beginning to look like an inevitability but there was a warning on 90 when he charged Southee and toe-ended a pull into no-man’s land.
He moved to 96 with his 10th four, a compact steer to deep third, but was gone next ball as he flashed a thick edge behind. Duckett consoled him on his near miss then endured one of his own soon after, playing on as Southee angled the ball in from round the wicket.
That left Joe Root and Harry Brook, the top two batters in the ICC world rankings, together at the start of the evening session.
