Duck tales for the kiwis

Brendon McCullum's 'Cook-Bradman' comments were still a talking point on the first morning. Opinions varied from him being over the top, pretty accurate, showing respect or playing mind games with the England captain. No one, though, really took it all too seriously. Neither did McCullum have to worry about Alastair Cook scoring too many as, in the 11th over, he rather oddly chipped a catch to mid-on against Neil Wagner.

For much of the opening session, New Zealand had someone else sharing the outfield with them. A rotund duck waddled around the square, pretty much covering a full circle. At one point Hamish Rutherford tried to shoo it away, but the duck was having none of it and happily pecked away at the grass. It was in the firing line a few times, especially when stood at midwicket to Jonathan Trott, but shortly before lunch decided enough was enough and disappeared. Maybe duck was on the menu and he thought it was best not to hang around.

No, this is not a reference to the Barmy Army song book. Instead, it's about England's second-wicket stands at the Basin Reserve. In adding 210, Nick Compton and Jonathan Trott followed the century partnerships by Cook and Andrew Strauss (106) in 2008 and Marcus Trescothick-Mark Butcher (115) in 2002. By the time today's stand ended, it was England's highest for the second wicket in New Zealand, going past the 182 added by Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart at Auckland in 1997.

When a captain has put the opposition in, he does not really want to worry about containment. But if wickets don't fall he cannot afford the run-rate to escape. McCullum was, therefore, hugely grateful for Bruce Martin's afternoon spell that kept England's run-rate under three an over until tea. Martin was shown plenty of respect by Compton and Trott, completing 12 overs during the middle session for just 18 runs.

It might not actually have been the shot of the day, but Compton's cover drive off Neil Wagner was a fantastic way to bring up a century. He had moved to 96 with a square drive and could have been forgiven to nursing his way over the line, but surging on confidence he punished a wide delivery through the off side and, for the second time in five days, jumped in celebration, removed his helmet, saluted the crowd while his dad soaked it all in again.