After an encouraging performance with the ball on day one in Hamilton, England were made to wait for the 10th and final New Zealand first innings wicket.
New Zealand resumed day two on 315-9 and made England wait for 67 minutes for their 10th first innings wicket.
Armed with the second new ball, England were frustrated by the resilient 10th wicket pair of Mitchell Santner and Will O'Rourke.
England's mode of attack was to target the No. 11 O'Rourke, generally bowling to Santner without any catchers in place and most of their fielders on the boundary. Santner was in no rush, picking up the occasional boundary and content leaving a ball or two an over for O'Rourke to deal with. There were even instances of England leaving all their fielders on the boundary for the last ball of the over, in effect gifting Santner a simple, strike-retaining single.
Santner was eventually bowled by Matt Potts off the first delivery after the drinks break for an excellent 76. His hand helped propel the Black Caps from 231-7 to a much more competitive first innings total of 347. That dismissal was Potts' fourth of the Test – he finished with figures of 4-90.
In total, Santner and O'Rourke put on 44 for the final wicket. At 99 deliveries, it is the sixth-longest 10th wicket stand in New Zealand's Test history. Their eighth-longest 10th wicket partnership also occurred this series, between O'Rourke and Daryl Mitchell in Christchurch.
While Santner was the predominant run-scorer in the partnership, O'Rourke more than played his part surviving 33 deliveries for his five not out – his joint highest score in Test cricket.
O'Rourke is fast establishing a reputation for himself as one of the most dogged tailenders on the circuit. This innings saw him register his first boundary for New Zealand, 10 matches and 183 deliveries into his international career.
Where ball-by-ball data has been recorded, O'Rourke's Test batting strike rate of 9.72 is the lowest ever in the history of the game (min 100 balls faced). In fact, no other player to have batted those many balls in their career has a strike rate under 10.
England have found O'Rourke difficult to dislodge this series; with one innings remaining, he has faced 112 balls and has been dismissed just twice in five innings (one of which was when he was deployed as a nightwatch).
His dismissal rate of 56 balls per wicket is the third best for New Zealand this series, behind only Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell.
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