Harry Brook century gets England back on track on day two in Christchurch

An inspired and unbeaten knock of 132 from Harry Brook helped put England in the ascendancy on the second day of the first Test at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

With New Zealand's first innings having been wrapped up at 348 all out, the tourists had their fair share of luck while at the crease with six dropped catches from the hosts at various points throughout the day.

Despite that, England managed to finish on 319-5 at stumps.

Of those drops, four were for Brook, without whom England would surely be facing a comprehensive defeat.

It had been a salvage job from the 25-year-old, who put on a fifth-wicket partnership of 151 runs with Ollie Pope (77) before the latter was caught brilliantly by a flying Glenn Phillips at gully.

At the nadir of their innings and prior to the aforementioned partnership, England had been 71-4 thanks to some excellent New Zealand bowling, with Jacob Bethell making just 10 on his Test debut.

Following Pope's dismissal, England captain Ben Stokes came in to bat in the city of his birth. He put on an unbroken stand of 97 runs with Brook, making 37 himself and looked closer to his best.

Stokes, though, was one of three who was dropped by New Zealand captain Tom Latham while on 30 runs.

A brilliant day of Test cricket ? Harry Brook guides England from 45/3 to near parity at the close. Some player. pic.twitter.com/BVStnP9Jqy

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) November 29, 2024

Speaking about the missed opportunities during England's innings, New Zealand's Nathan Smith was not too downhearted.

"We judge ourselves off the chances we create and we created enough out there," he told TNT Sports.

"I think a couple of catches going to hand there, it's a completely different story. But they got a couple of good partnerships and we just need to break them with the new ball tomorrow.

"The bounce is there and when the ball is a bit newer, there is some nice seam movement as well. It's just about trying to control the run rate, which is tough against these guys with the old ball.

"We probably got it a little bit wrong going wide to Brook, but I thought we brought it back nicely at the end there."

Data debrief: Brilliant Brook reaches new heights

Brook's132 brought his away-from-home batting average to 93, which puts him second in the all-time list behind Don Bradman.

The score accrued during his innings also means that he now has over 2,000 Test runs.

Brook has clocked up that total in just 36 innings, putting him eighth on the all-time quickest list to have reached 2,000 runs.