Brook - Root tons put England in dominant position

England 315 for 3 (Brook 184*, Root 101*) vs New Zealand

Wellington: A quite magnificent 184 not out from the prolific Harry Brook put England in the ascendancy on day one of the second and final Test against New Zealand.

With Joe Root also making his first century in eight Tests, England piled on 315-3 before rain arrived in Wellington.

The tourists had been 21-3 after being asked to bat on a green pitch at the Basin Reserve - Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope all falling cheaply.

But Brook batted with all the style, certainty and confidence of a man who now has four hundreds in his first six Tests.

His 169-ball effort was laced with some sublime strokes and moved him to 807 Test runs in total, the most after nine innings for any player in history.

Root, who survived a review for lbw from his first ball and then again on 31, was the perfect foil. Batting at a more modest tempo, the former captain ended unbeaten on 101.

Between them, the Yorkshire pair have added an unbroken 294 for the fourth wicket and left England in the perfect position to push for their seventh-successive Test win and a series triumph that would be New Zealand's first home defeat in six years.