Harry Brook Harry Brook 
Harry Brook smashed an incredible century and Brydon Carse followed up with crucial wickets as England ended day one of their second Test against New Zealand in a commanding position. (More Sports News)lucky sprite
England had initially been reduced to 43-4 after batting first and were indebted to Brook, who hit 123 from 115 deliveries to claim his second ton in as many matches.
Brook and Ollie Pope (66) put on a 174-run stand for the fifth wicket to get the tourists' innings back on track.
"I think that might be my favourite hundred so far, I enjoyed that one a lot," a delighted Brook said.
"Most of the balls came out of the middle of the bat and it feels pretty special to be batting like that.
"We were three down when I came in and the pitch was doing quite a bit. It was seaming and swinging, so I'm just glad I put my attacking mode on. I really took it to them and put them under a lot of pressure.
"They had to try and bowl at the stumps early on and I felt like the time to run down was then, cash in when it's full.
"I just tried to take them off their length and stop them bowling on the stumps. The best mode of defence for me was attack and thankfully it came off."
Harry Brook. From Yorkshire. pic.twitter.com/MUtTUYZndM
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) December 6, 2024With Zak Crawley (17), who hit a six in the first over, top-scoring within the first four wickets and Chris Woakes (18) after Brook and Pope, it is not an exaggeration to say that England largely owe their score of 280 to two batsmen.
But it was not until the changeover that the value of their partnership came to the fore, with England's bowlers able to claim important wickets to leave New Zealand 86-5 at stumps.
Gus Atkinson, Ben Stokes and Woakes all claimed one wicket each, with Carse taking 2-28.
Kane Williamson (37) had survived a caught behind review and being balled off a no-ball from Carse before the fast bowler finally got his man.
Carse had a hand in the final three wickets of the day, having executed a diving catch to get Rachin Ravindra, before Williamson and Daryl Mitchell were both caught off his deliveries.
Data debrief: Brilliant Brook
Brook's century in Wellington was the eighth of his career and second in as many Tests.
His Test average of 61.8 is the third best any male batter with 20+ innings, while he is one of just seven players to have batted in at least 10 innings to average at least one six per innings in men's Tests.
He got to 100 in just 91 balls, while his fifth-wicket stand with Pope also came at more than one run per ball. Carse, meanwhile, contributed to a period in which New Zealand lost four wickets for just 27 runs.
The Black Caps are aiming for a sixth Test win of 2024lucky sprite, which would be the most victories they have recorded in a single calendar year, but they have plenty of work to do if they are to achieve that feat.