Following another outstanding day at Bay Oval, England back on the track to win its tenth Test match

Stuart Broad, sometimes known as the Nighthawk, served as England’s go-to man for havoc under the Mt Maunganui floodlights. 

Not with the bat as had been expected, but rather in his more recognisable form, an overwhelming show of classic fast bowling that tore clean off New Zealand’s second innings, setting his team up for an obvious tenth victory in 11 Tests.

In the span of 27 balls, four wickets were taken, four were bowled, and all four were taken. For a while, it appeared as though Broad would soon become the eighth player in his incredible career to take five wickets in the span of a single spell. 

Instead, New Zealand somewhat recovered by the end to incredibly slowly reach 63 for 5, making their dim and faraway objective of 394 little more than a pipe dream.

Strangely, the guy whose bowling statistics entered history for a very different reason was the only New Zealander to defeat Broad on a memorable third day. Neil Wagner’s second over of the day saw Broad quickly bombed out by a bouncer after his humorous antics with the bat on the second evening. 

This was a rare personal high point for Wagner, who later took the brunt of England’s batting onslaught with the eye-watering figures of 13-0-110-2, the second-most expensive economy rate in Test history.

The World Test Championship-winning New Zealand side has been known for its indefatigability, but this was a beating unlike any other. 

After applying a relative handbrake throughout the afternoon, the team ultimately finished with an imposing 374, 20 minutes after the dinner break, like a glider pilot flying over a bombed-out runway, after scoring 158 runs in the morning session despite losing four wickets. 

When the floodlights were just coming on, New Zealand was forced to bat through the dusk, just as they had done on the first day. It was Broad’s goal to make sure they couldn’t.

With his round-the-wicket angle early veering towards the pads of New Zealand’s left-handers, particularly Tom Latham, who clipped Broad’s second delivery past midwicket for four, Broad’s length was going on fuller from the beginning of his spell. 

Yet as Jasprit Bumrah can attest, England under Ben Stokes have little interest in the unusual boundary slip. The stumps were the only thing that mattered to Broad throughout this scene of the play. Oh holy crap, what a delivery.

Broad hit all of his angles on the last ball of his second over. When the ball kept curving back into his defense during New Zealand’s first innings, Devon Conway, who had been so calm, drove carelessly and was out for two runs. 

By surpassing the legendary Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne with their 1002nd wicket in 15 years of Test match play, Broad sealed his rise to the top of the partnership pile with James Anderson.

This one was thrown to the right-hander above the wicket at the ideal in-between length and was quick enough to confuse even a hitter of Williamson’s caliber. 

What direction would it jag? As it occurred, back into the stumps, blasting through a partially engaged front foot to bash the top off. In his first home game since rejoining the team, Williamson’s duck ended a disturbingly pointless game and essentially confirmed his side’s situation.

Broad should have had his third run after three balls and one over, but Zak Crawley at second slip shelled a huge chance as Latham drove outside his line of sight. 

Conway had made a similar slip that had cost the team in the first innings, but this time Broad simply laughed and completed the task on his own. 

Another nip-backer broke through the gate to dismiss Latham for 15 in the same over, finding the same length and outcome as the two before it. 

With 19 for 3, Broad became the first English seamer since Fred Trueman’s match against the West Indies in 1959–60 to dismiss each of the first three batsmen.

Of course, he wasn’t done yet; there was only a brief break in his speech when Ollie Robinson, England’s top bowler in the opening innings, served a reminder of his own brilliance in the spotlight with a quick lifter across Henry Nicholls’ left-handed bow to kiss the edge through to Ben Foakes, making it 27 for 4.

Three overs and one run later, Broad had his fourth run as Tom Blundell, New Zealand’s first-innings century, misplayed another probable inducker to invite further chaos from England’s happy fielders.

Before Broad stole the spotlight, England had many reasons to be happy. Ben Foakes brought up the rear of an innings that had briefly threatened to spiral out of control at 237 for 6 when Joe Root was struck by another reverse-sweep on the stroke of tea. 

This day saw yet another display of unfathomably aggressive batting, this time to the tune of 295 runs in 57.5 overs, across two distinct tempos.

All across the order, England scored runs, including four between Ollie Pope’s pace-setting 49 from 46 balls and Joe Root’s 57 from 62, as well as eight scores of 25 or more – only the sixth time in Test history. 

Ben Stokes, who was dropped to No. 8 due to an untimely bathroom break, responded to 12 dot-balls at the top of his inning with 31 from his remaining 21, including two sixes over fine leg, the first of which took him past his coach, Brendon McCullum, to become the sixth hitter in Test history with 54 from 41 balls, taking his overall record to 623 at 77.87 and a ridiculous strike-rate of 96.88. 

Harry Brook, Pope, who sparked England’s inning and Wagner’s statistics with two powerful rockets up and over fine leg for six, was the star, though. 

Pope eventually swung too often to be caught down the leg side with his fifty beckoning, and Brook took up the batons in unceasing fashion, belting Wagner for four, four, four, six in an 18-run over that set him on course for a 37-ball fifty. Two more sixes followed in Wagner’s next over, one apiece for Pope and Root, both in the same direction.

Yet, by the time Broad was finished, such extraordinary triumphs had been reduced to a footnote. The remarkable is becoming routine for this England team on a daily basis, but even by the high standards of his illustrious career, what came next in front of the cameras was exceptional.