England spinner Shoaib Bashir took four wickets as the tourists kept New Zealand in check on the first day of the first Test at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

The tourists won the toss and elected to field on a green surface, but faced a difficult task with an inspired Kane Williamson (93) top-scoring for the hosts as they finished on 319-8.

It was New Zealand who had the better of the play in the opening two sessions of the day, coming out after tea on 227-4.

But Williamson's wicket, caught off Gus Atkinson, triggered a wobble for the Kiwis, which saw three wickets fall for just 25 runs.

Bashir's deliveries then saw Tom Blundell (17) caught in the off-side and Nathan Smith (three) at leg slip. He also ended a 46-run stand between Glenn Phillips (41*) and Matt Henry (18), with the latter caught, as he added to his earlier wicket of Rachin Ravindra (34).

Frustratingly for England, Phillips had initially been dropped by captain Ben Stokes on a duck and also successfully overturned a dismissal.

But this was a day to celebrate for Bashir, who accredited those above him for his level of performance.

"I wasn't expecting to bowl 20-odd overs and take four wickets on day one, but I knew I had a job to do. Stokesy and Baz [head coach Brendon McCullum] back me 100 per cent and that brings the best out in me," he told Sky Sports

"If I bowl a bad ball there's nothing really, Ben just looks at me and smiles. Even that just gives me so much belief, because I know I can still bowl my best ball. All I was thinking about was trying to take a wicket or create an opportunity.

"I'm not perfect, every day I feel I could play better. But I feel I've developed bowling at some of the best in the world."

Data debrief: Bashir scales new heights

Only Indian bowlers Jasprit Bumrah (49) and Ravichandran Ashwin (46) have more wickets than the 45 that Bashir has claimed this year.

Having been elevated above Jack Leach as England's first-choice spinner, he has bowled 2,745 Test deliveries in 2024 – over 500 more than the next-busiest bowler in Sri Lanka's Prabath Jayasuriya.

Following his performance on day one in Christchurch, he is just one wicket away from becoming the only spin bowler to ever claim a five-wicket haul at the Hagley Oval.