NZ vs ENG 2024/25, New Zealand vs England 3rd Test, Day 1, Hamilton Match Report, December 14 – 18, 2024

Toss England chose to bowl vs New Zealand

England have won the toss and chosen to bowl first in the third and final Test against New Zealand at Seddon Park.

Play was set to begin in mild, overcast conditions after rain earlier in the week.

Ben Stokes, England’s captain, said his call at the toss “could have gone either way”.

“We came here this morning and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, it gets closer to the toss and it’s overcast,” he said, adding that the decision to replace Woakes with Potts was “replacing one gun bowler with another”.

New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said a consolation victory would also be “a great way to send Tim off”.

“It looks a decent surface. We’ve certainly seen wickets in New Zealand with a lot more grass and a lot more greener tinge to it,” Latham said. “We know we haven’t been at our best but again we’ve got another opportunity to put a performance on the board that we’re proud of.”

England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ollie Pope (wk), 7 Ben Stokes (capt), 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Brydon Carse, 10 Matt Potts, 11 Shoaib Bashir

New Zealand: 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Will Young, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Glenn Phillips, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Will O’Rourke