Innings break New Zealand 125 (Atkinson 4-31, Carse 4-46) trail England 280 (Brook 123, Pope 66, Smith 4-86, O’Rourke 3-49) by 155 runs
Atkinson and Brydon Carse shared the five wickets to fall inside 45 minutes of play, both finishing with four-fors to give the tourists control of a fast-moving Test. After Kane Williamson’s 37 on day one, no other New Zealand batter made it to 20.
New Zealand resumed their innings with Tom Blundell batting alongside nightwatcher Will O’Rourke. Blundell shaped up nicely for all of 12 balls, pulling Carse for the first boundary of the day – but was extracted by the 13th he had faced, Carse producing a beauty to hit the top of off. He had his fourth two balls later when O’Rourke propped forward hopefully and was tapped plumb in front of middle.
Nathan Smith briefly suggested that their might be a counterattack from the New Zealand lower order, timing Carse down the ground to bring up three figures before following up with a full-blooded mow over midwicket for six.
Glenn Phillips added three quickfire boundaries and Smith then drilled Atkinson through the covers as the stand reached 29 at more than a run a ball. But Atkinson found extra bounce on a tight line to defeat Smith, who underedged on to his stumps attempting to leave.
The end of the innings was swift, as Atkinson had Henry fending a chest-high bumper to gully and then bluffed Tim Southee by pushing the field back then going full and straight at the stumps. Southee reviewed with a forlorn glance, ball-tracking confirming it would have hit middle and leg – and Atkinson walked off as the first Englishman to take a Test hat-trick since Moeen Ali at The Oval in 2017.
