New Zealand 59-4 chasing 583 after England declares on day 3, 2nd test

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Joe Root completed his 36th test century before England declared with a mammoth lead of 582 runs Sunday on the third morning of the second cricket test against New Zealand.

England resumed its second innings at 378-5 with its lead already 533 runs and with Root 73 not out.

It batted on for a further 27 minutes or 6.3 overs to allow Root to bring up his century. Root was out for 106 and captain Ben Stokes was 49 not out when the declaration was made, with almost three full days remaining in the match.

At lunch, New Zealand was in deep trouble at 59-4, still 523 behind. The break was taken a few minutes early when a rain shower passed over the Basin Reserve.

Chris Woakes, bowling into a stiff breeze, removed Devon Conway (0) in the third over of the New Zealand second innings, then claimed the vital wicket of Kane Williamson (4).

Brydon Carse, bowling downwind, dismissed New Zealand captain Tom Latham (24), then Rachin Ravindra (6) just before the break.

With the ball still seaming on a third day pitch, Woakes dismissed Conway with a wobble seam delivery which nipped back between bat and pad.

He then softened up Williamson with a series of shorter deliveries before producing an excellent ball which just straightened up. Williamson offered a straight bat but the ball took a faint edge and was caught by wicketkeeper Ollie Pope.

Carse struck with only his second ball of the morning. He angled a quick delivery into Latham’s pads and the New Zealand skipper offered a awkward dead bat shot. The ball shot back to the bowler who claimed a superb one-handed catch on his follow through.

The seamer later lured Ravindra into a unnecessary shot wide of off stump which was edged to Pope.

Carse now has 16 wickets in the series.

Root already had become the fourth player in test cricket after Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting to post 100 scores of 50 or more when he reached half century on day two.

He went on to reach his century from 127 balls, doing so with a flourish. He was 98 when he played a daring ramp shot to a good length ball from Will O’Rourke, flicking the ball over the head of wicketkeeper Tom Blundell to the boundary.

Root added another four, the 11th of his innings before he was caught by Blundell off O’Rourke two balls later prompting Stokes to signal the declaration.

New Zealand will have to achieve the highest successful fourth innings run chase if it is to win the match and level the series after England won the first test at Christchurch by eight wickets.

Currently, the highest successful fourth innings run chase is the West Indies’ 418 against Australia in 2003.