Harry Brook leads England comeback towards New Zealand on Day Two with seventh Test century whereas Joe Root falls to a depressing duck on one hundred and fiftieth outing

Harry Brook threaded a cut through the cordon off Tim Southee for the four that brought up his latest hundred and confirmed England’s fightback on the second day of a gripping first Test against New Zealand at Hagley Oval.

With Ollie Pope making a restorative 77 from No 6 before falling to an astonishing gully catch by Glenn Phillips, England rebuilt resourcefully from the depths of 71 for four. At stumps, they had reached 319 for five, just 29 behind, with Brook unbeaten on 132 and hungry for more.

He did, it’s fair to say, ride his luck. He was dropped three times en route to his seventh Test century – and sixth overseas – and again on 106, when umpire Ahsan Raza erroneously signalled four leg-byes after wicketkeeper Tom Blundell deflected a leg-side chance to the boundary. Replays showed a faint edge.

But England were not complaining. After bowling in blazing sunshine and a blustery wind on the first day, they now found themselves batting under calm grey skies, and New Zealand’s seamers were threatening to run amok.

Two wickets in the last over before lunch for Nathan Smith, including his fellow debutant Jacob Bethell for 10 and Joe Root for a duck in his 150th Test, had left England 45 for three, still 303 behind.

When Ben Duckett’s increasingly skittish 46 ended with a top edge to long leg off Will O’Rourke, the mountain they had to climb was far steeper than the nearby Port Hills.

Had Phillips accepted a sharp chance at gully off Smith when Brook had 18, the ascent might have become impossible. Another drop off Smith – this time at slip by Tom Latham, who had already put down Duckett – would have got rid of him for 41.

But Brook is not easily fazed, and with Pope – apparently liberated by the demotion brought about by wicketkeeping duty – turned the innings around.

He moved to fifty with a flat flick for six off O’Rourke, then survived another a chance, on 70, as Devon Conway fluffed a catch on the run at deep midwicket after Brook failed to get hold of a ropey off-break from Phillips. Soon, he was celebrating his hundred, glancing skywards in honour of his grandmother, Pauline, who died earlier this year.

For all his good fortune, this was a crucial and often classy innings, carved from adversity and as important in its own way as his triple-hundred on a rather friendlier surface against Pakistan in Multan last month.

Brook ticked off 2,000 Test runs in his 36th innings, behind only Herbert Sutcliffe’s 33 among Englishmen, and now has the fourth-best innings-per-hundred ratio (5.1) in Test history – behind Clyde Walcott, George Headley and Don Bradman.

He was helped on his way by Pope, who was in desperate need of a score after averaging 11 in Pakistan, and matched Brook stroke for stroke during a fifth-wicket stand of 151 in 31 high-octane overs.

Given New Zealand’s sloppiness, Pope must have felt hard done by when Phillips dived like a swallow at gully to hold a fierce cut in his right hand. But he had already kickstarted a debate which has no easy answer: what will England do when Jamie Smith, missing this series because of paternity leave, reclaims the gloves next summer?

Pope could, of course, return to No 3, though his performances there this year have inspired little confidence. And though Bethell made only 10, he batted with none of the freneticism that has threatened to become Pope’s hallmark.

Entering in the fourth over after Zak Crawley had been trapped lbw for a duck by Matt Henry – leaving with him an average of 10 from 16 innings against New Zealand – Bethell skilfully negotiated the day’s toughest conditions, until Smith found the edge with one that straightened.

And New Zealand were in clover when Root, attempting to drop one to his feet with hands as soft as Kane Williamson’s, chopped on fourth ball.

But Brook and Pope dug in and the sun came out, drawing sting from the surface. Later, Ben Stokes helped Brook exploit tiring legs, though not before becoming the third batsmen to be spared by Latham’s butter fingers: aiming to time the luckless Smith through the off side on 30, he was put down at head height in the covers.

Earlier, Brydon Carse had taken the last two New Zealand wickets to finish with an impressive four for 64, leaving Phillips unbeaten on 58. The hosts’ total of 348 assumed a menacing air, only for Brook and Pope to put it into some kind of perspective.