Just 58 legal deliveries – plus one no ball – were bowled as rain dominated the third day here. It was an unsatisfyingly brief glimpse of action that nevertheless allowed England to upgrade their chances of victory in the first Test after their post-Ashes reset from probable to overwhelmingly likely.
New Zealand scored 19 runs and lost two wickets, leaving them on 55 for five and still 199 from victory. The rate at which they scored illustrated the continuing difficulty of the batters’ task on this capricious surface and also a determination simply to survive until Sunday, with its promise of better weather and upgraded batting conditions.
