by 
England captured the vital wicket of Kane Williamson for 93 in a dramatic five-wicket final session to exit New Zealand 319-8 after the first day of the first Test in Christchurch on Thursday.
The hosts went to tea with a healthy record of 193-3 and collapsed to 252-7 before Glenn Phillips (41 not out) and Matt Henry (18) halted the collapse with a fiery stand of 46 points for the eighth wicket.
Shoaib Bashir, the only specialist spinner in the Test, was England’s leading destroyer with 4-69.
This left the contest finely balanced.
“It’s a good, fair surface,” Williamson said. “On a surface like that you get a bit lucky and I played and missed a bit, it’s just the nature of the beast.”
Bashir, 21, didn’t expect to bowl from day one and was surprised to find himself facing Williamson, New Zealand’s leading Test run-scorer.
“Obviously he’s a world-class player and for me, bowling with someone like him, I was just in awe to see Kane Williamson bat,” he said.
“I played a lot of bad balls, but I still got held out and that shows how much confidence they (management) have in me.”
Former skipper Williamson looked on course to put New Zealand in a dominant position after joining Tom Latham in the middle when they lost opener Devon Conway in the second round.
He faced 14 deliveries before getting off the mark and went on to strike 50 partnerships with Latham, Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell.
Williamson was instrumental in taking them to 227-4 before coming undone by attempting a cut shot which went to Zac Crawley at point to give Gus Atkinson his second wicket.
England had started the Test with a roar, winning the toss and, playing on a green board, having Atkinson remove Conway almost immediately.
But for the remainder of the first two sessions, Williamson brought the momentum back to New Zealand.
He wasn’t fazed when Brydon Carse hit the helmet twice and survived a loud call on 51 for being caught behind when replays showed the ball hit the thigh and not the bat.
Williamson, who hit 10 fours, faced 197 deliveries in 274 minutes with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees Celsius before being dismissed in the 90s for the first time in six years.
In Williamson’s previous 13 innings where he scored at least 90, the prolific batsman had recorded eight hundred and five double centuries.
– Ravindra Assault –
With moisture in the ground causing England’s bowlers some early problems with their delivery stride, Latham punished every loose ball that came his way.
But he had a lapse in concentration in the first round after the morning drinks break and was caught by Carse for 47.
Ravindra assumed the role of aggressor as he and Williamson added 68 for the third wicket before Ravindra clumsily hit a loose full toss from Bashir and departed for 34.
Mitchell accompanied Williamson to tea, but scored 19 in the second over after play resumed.
The wickets of Williamson, Tom Blundell (17) and debutant Nathan Smith (three) soon followed as New Zealand collapsed to 252-7.
Henry added a good 18, leaving Phillips and Tim Southee (10) to finish the day.
England debutant Jacob Bethell, 21, bowled left-arm spin with his first Test delivery sent to the boundary by Williamson.
Uncapped Durham wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson was added to the England squad on Thursday in place of the injured Jordan Cox and is expected to arrive on Saturday.
Bethell will bat at number three with Ollie Pope taking the gloves in this Test and sliding down the order to six.
cf/mp/dhc
