Brook was granted extra lives on 18, 41, 70 and 108; each catch should have been held and any could have changed the complexion of the match.
Tom Blundell grassed a sitter while wearing gloves, Latham coughed up a high chance at first slip, while Devon Conway did the hard part of reaching the ball at deep midwicket before failing to complete the catch.
Only Glenn Phillips was able to atone – in spectacular style. Having dropped a cut from Brook straight to his body at gully, the livewire fully extended to snag another from Ollie Pope while horizontal to the ground.
Pope (77) departed in disbelief, Phillips’ right hand ending a counter-attacking stand with Brook that hauled their side out of trouble on 71-4. The pair played their natural attacking games and took plenty of risks while racking up 151 from 188 balls, benefiting from an emerging sun that created similar batting conditions to what the hosts had enjoyed on day one.
It was markedly different when England began their innings, the overhead cloud and cooler temperatures assisting the New Zealand quicks as the ball moved in the air and off the surface.
Tim Southee threatened without initial reward while Matt Henry trapped Zak Crawley and would have added a second opener in Ben Duckett without the first of Latham’s trio of misery.
Debutant Nathan Smith – later twice denied by his teammates – illustrated in the last over before lunch why he was the leading wicket-taker in last season’s Plunket Shield.
Smith first nicked out fellow rookie Jacob Bethell with an angling delivery that straightened off the seam, before claiming the prized wicket of Joe Root by nipping one back in and finding an inside edge that cannoned off the stumps.
After Duckett’s streaky stay was ended by Will O’Rourke, Brook and Pope came together and threatened to lift England towards a lead, until Phillips intervened.
The mixed day with his hands followed a morning in which he reiterated his value with the bat, finishing unbeaten on 58 having once more run out of partners.
The innings came a month after Phillips finished 48no in Pune, which was a month after he recorded 49no in Galle, and again raised the question of why the Black Caps persisted with the struggling Blundell at No 6.
Phillips bats well with the tail, hoarding strike while collecting quickly through boundaries. But No 7 still seems a waste of the ability he has displayed after returning to the test team a year ago in Bangladesh.
In the 12 matches since, Blundell averages 14.2 with one fifty compared to Phillips’ 38.6 with four. Numbers, though, are unnecessary to know the latter is a better batter, one of the six best in the country who should be recognised as such.
Before the tour to India, selector Sam Wells defended the current order by pointing to the partnerships Blundell had enjoyed with No 5 Daryl Mitchell. Yet the wicketkeeper no longer occupies the crease long enough to form any stands of significance.
The longer they wait to switch the pair, the greater chance it costs the Black Caps a match-winning total. Although, as they later showed, there are plenty of ways for a team to lose a test they should win.
The Alternative Commentary Collective is covering every home Black Caps this summer. Listen to live commentary here.
Kris Shannon has been a sports journalist since 2011 and covers a variety of codes for the Herald. Reporting on Grant Elliott’s six at Eden Park in 2015 was a career highlight.
