England in New Zealand: Zak Crawley hits 94 as 20 wickets fall on day one of tourists’ Test warm-up

Zak Crawley hit a quick-fire 94 after Brydon Carse struck four times with the ball as 20 wickets fell on day one of England’s sole Test warm-up match in New Zealand.

Opener Crawley struck 14 fours and two sixes in his 90-ball knock, with Ollie Pope (42) – deputising as captain for Ben Stokes – the next highest-scorer in England’s 249 all out in 45.1 overs in the two-day fixture against the New Zealand Prime Minister’s XI.

Stokes has never been a fan of warm-up games and his decision to sit out proceedings in Queenstown is not thought to be fitness related ahead of Thursday’s first Test in Christchurch, with the skipper bowling in the nets before play.

No 3 batter Pope averaged just 11 with a best of 29 in October’s 2-1 series defeat in Pakistan, but chipped in with six fours on a green surface on Saturday before he was bowled 44th ball as the tourists replied to their opponents’ 136 all out.

Each of England’s top seven made it into double figures but Jordan Cox, standing in as wicketkeeper on this tour with regular gloveman Jamie Smith on paternity leave, only made 11 before he was caught and bowled to be fifth out.

Cox, who has not kept in first-class cricket since 2023 due to a gruesome finger injury, took a fine diving grab earlier in the day off Gus Atkinson as England struck as early as the second over en route to skittling the hosts in 36.4 overs.

Cox’s catch removed Jamal Todd (3), while Atkinson (3-15) also dismissed the home side’s other opener, Hunter Kindley, lbw for 11 in the 10th over, around Chris Woakes (3-25) picking off captain Troy Johnson (2) and Fergus Lellman (0).

Atkinson’s third and final wicket was the Prime Minister’s XI’s top-scorer Snehith Reddy (60), who rallied his team somewhat from 20-4 and 63-6 at John Davies Oval.

Carse (4-48), who impressed in his first Test series in Pakistan last month, dismissed Jesse Tashkoff and then ran through the tail, but fellow seamer Matthew Potts and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir went wicketless from seven and five overs respectively.

England’s Test tour of New Zealand

• Warm up-game vs NZ Cricket XI: November 23-24 (Queenstown)
• First Test: November 28-December 2 (Christchurch)
• Second Test: December 6-10 (Wellington)
• Third Test: December 14-18 (Hamilton)