Having won the toss and elected to bowl first, New Zealand had the upper hand in the first session reaching the interval on 93-0, successfully negotiating the early seam-friendly conditions.

After the lunch break, the sun emerged from behind the clouds and conditions suddenly looked markedly better for batting. New Zealand looked well placed to post a match-defining first innings score for the first time in the series.

But England fought back valiantly. The recalled Will Young was the first to go, nicking off to an away-swinger from Gus Atkinson for 42 – it was a dismissal that started a steady procession of New Zealand wickets that continued for the rest of the afternoon.

Impressively for England, they managed to extract breakthroughs in a different manner to how they previously have this series. Though New Zealand's tail, led by Mitchell Santner, rallied later in the evening session. Here are five takeaways from proceedings on day one:

Potts steps up and continues hold over Williamson

Matt Potts' inclusion in place of Chris Woakes was England's sole change for the series finale. So often a squad member under Ben Stokes, the Durham seamer has generally found his game time limited.

Afforded a chance in Hamilton, Potts was the pick of the England bowlers in the first session, bowling without much luck with the new ball. He ended the day with three wickets and really should have had more – twice he had top order New Zealand batters dropped in the cordon off his bowling.

Potts once again got the better of Kane Williamson the former New Zealand captain defending a length ball back onto his stumps; though perhaps unfortunate on Williamson's part, it was a mode of dismissal that had been coming. It was the fourth time in five innings Potts has dismissed Williamson in Test cricket. The Black Caps' talismanic No.3 averages less than three against Potts in Test cricket.

Pott's ability and desire to bowl long spells while sustaining his speed is a valued trait by the current England regime.

Stokes and his bowlers controls the rhythm of the day

Potts aside, England were a touch loose in the opening session. That changed after lunch as they were able to seriously restrict New Zealand's scoring rate even as lateral movement became an increasingly rare sight as the day unfolded.

Key to that was a change in tact. Prior to lunch, England often deployed as many as five slips as they looked to pounce on any outside edges. After lunch the plan was very different as Stokes packed the field in front of square, cutting off easy run-scoring options. Singles became harder to steal and the scoring rate plummeted. Rachin Ravindra slowed down after a rapid start, scoring one off his last 16 balls in the middle before Daryl Mitchell took 20 deliveries to get off the mark. Ravindra and Mitchell were two of four New Zealand wickets to fall out caught in the in-field.

Atkinson puts in Anderson-style shift

Key to the execution of that plan was the control displayed by Gus Atkinson. Atkinson was introduced into the England set-up as a point-of-difference third seamer, but his role was much more conventional here. He kept things tight, operating well below two runs per over for much of the day and ensured that Stokes was able to keep a lid on New Zealand's scoring rate.

It was the sort of performance James Anderson made routine in overseas Tests, keeping run-scoring to a minimum when conditions were otherwise in favour of the batting side, bogging batters down and inducing unforced errors.

Atkinson's role was especially important on a rare off day for Brydon Carse. Carse has generally been England's go-to old-ball bowler this series and while he picked up two wickets, he was the least consistent England bowler on a day where he struggled for control.

Without their old-ball battering ram at his best, England had to change their mode of attack and Atkinson was central to that. His second wicket of the day was the 50th of his Test career – the last Englishman to reach that milestone in fewer Tests was Ian Botham back in the late 1970s.

Stokes allays fitness concerns

As was Stokes' ability to get through so many overs. The England captain finished the day with just one wicket but bowled much better than his figures suggest. He bowled as quickly as he has in many years – regularly hitting 85 miles per hour – and was able to at one stage complete an uninterrupted eight-over spell. By the end of the day, Stokes completed 23 overs as the England skipper stuck to his four seamers.

The last time Stokes bowled 23 overs in an innings was the 2022 Trent Bridge Test, his second as full-time captain.

New Zealand left ruing sloppy display

As good as England were after lunch, the home side were architects in their downfall. At 105-0, their sights should have been set on a score well in excess of 350 in fairly benign conditions.

Several of the dismissals were tame. Ravindra was once again out playing away from his body, Mitchell was caught driving at cover while Glenn Phillips was caught at backward point after a wild hack went wrong.

It could have actually ended a lot worse for New Zealand had Mitchell Santner and Tim Southee, in his farewell Test, not engineered a New Zealand fight back of their own in the evening session, turning 231-7 into a much more competitive 315-9. They are still in a decent position going into day two, but it could have been so much better after an exceptional opening session.

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