Nick Compton and Jonathan Trott hammer tired Kiwis with a record partnership

Having been dismissed for 167 in the first match a week ago, an omnishambles if ever there was one, the tourists made 267 for 2. As the first day wore in their authority burgeoned. There were centuries for Nick Compton (above) and Jonathan Trott in a record second wicket partnership and by the close Kevin Pietersen was bristling with intent.

It was Compton’s second hundred in successive innings, a prosaic but assured affair which ensured that he easily stole the thunder from his captain, Alastair Cook. He put on 210 with Trott, who made his ninth Test hundred. It was England’s highest for the second wicket in the 46 Test matches they have played in New Zealand.

Before the match, Cook had been spoken of rather flatteringly by New Zealand’s captain, Brendon McCullum, as being as good as anyone who played the game, probably barring Don Bradman. Comparing Cook to Bradman would be like comparing Compton to his grandfather, the legendary Denis – generous but not truly relevant.

But if Compo junior is no match for his great forebear, that matters not. He plays to his strengths, leaving the ball astutely and imperturbably. Of the 230 balls he received he did not score from 193 of them.

The image that will abide in the mind from the innings is of Compton shouldering arms and allowing the ball to pass by. Sometimes it sailed past his off stump by a foot, sometimes by half an inch. It was a tribute to his geographical instincts.

Not that he was always static. He unleashed an occasional cover drive that was a match for anyone and his pulling off the back foot was usually firm, always decisive.

Nor was the wait between 90 and 100 anything like that in Dunedin when it took him 40 balls. Today it took a mere 18, the landmark arriving with two fours in three balls, a rasping square drive, and a cover drive on the up. His jubilation, however, was similar.

He was out moments later when, anxious for England to move along swiftly, he drove loosely at a ball outside off stump from Bruce Martin and succeeded only in edging it to first slip where Ross Taylor pouched the chance.

Trott did what Trott does. This hundred, which took 174 balls, looked certain from the moment he came to the crease in the 11 over, never to be hurried or flustered. His entry was a surprise. Cook had looked as solid as ever in making his way to 17 when inexplicably he hit an innocuous ball from Neil Wagner to wide mid-on.

Perhaps the misjudgement was caused by the ball stopping in the pitch but it was most unlike Cook. Most unlike Bradman as well whose name being mentioned in the same sentence had bemused Cook as much as it flattered him. McCullum went on Twitter to try to put his remarks in context.

But before long he had many other worries. He had made it clear the day before the match that he would bowl first if he won the toss. Of course, that did not make him honour bound to do so but presumably he was persuaded to stick to his guns by the green hue of the pitch and the mild prospect that England might produce a repeat performance of Dunedin.

For that to happen he needed his bowlers to bring their A game. In the event they were somewhere much nearer the middle of the alphabet, not making their opponents play nearly enough.

Only when Cook was out did he have brief reason to believe that it might be New Zealand’s day again. It was already apparent that there was nowhere near enough in the pitch to justify fielding first especially when his men had bowled 170 overs at Dunedin in England’s second innings. They looked like tired men.

England took their time, seemingly not hurried at all by the predicted advent of Cyclone Sandra which may arrive on the south coast of the North Island some time on Sunday. They accrued 75 runs in the first session and although they came out full of intent after lunch by scoring 40 runs in the first six overs the next 40 took 21 overs.

In the evening it changed a little. Trott’s second fifty took only 68 balls and Pietersen was champing at the bit as soon as he entered the arena but curbed his enthusiasm. The last session brought 107 runs. New Zealand called for a review of a rejected an lbw appeal against Pietersen which was turned down. It seemed like the act of a desperate team.