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• Atkinson and Bethell star as England dominate day two against New Zealand

  Gus Atkinson's hat-trick set England on their way to a dominant second day of the second Test with New Zealand in Wellington.

  Atkinson took the final three wickets of Nathan Smith, Matt Henry and Tim Southee as the hosts were bowled out for 125, before the tourists' knock of 378-5 put them 533 runs to the good.

  The 26-year-old scored the first away hat-trick by an England bowler in 16 years, while it was also the first ever to be recorded at the Basin Reserve.

  "The hat-trick ball I was running up thinking: 'I'm getting a wicket this ball, I'm getting a wicket this ball' - I did feel it," he told BBC Sport.

  "I haven't really thought about a hat-trick too much before. You want to play to get five-fors as a bowler, you don't think about hat-tricks as much, but getting a hat-trick is special, it's definitely more rare than a five-for.

  "It's been a very special year. I'm just looking forward to playing as much Test cricket as I can in the next few years and, hopefully, continuing with the form."

  Atkinson's surge left New Zealand 155 runs adrift of England, whose second innings was spearheaded by Jacob Bethell and Ben Duckett (92).

  Between them, they added 187 for the second wicket, with Bethell (96) narrowly missing out on becoming the tourists' youngest Test centurion since 1939.

  Harry Brook chipped in with 55, while Joe Root and Ben Stokes notched unbeaten contributions of 73 and 35 respectively.

  That took England to 378-5 at stumps, as they closed in on their first Test series victory in New Zealand for 16 years.

  Data Debrief: Hat-trick hero Atkinson joins exclusive group

  Atkinson continued his incredible 2024, in which he took 12 wickets on his Test debut against West Indies in July, while notching up a century and five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka the following month.

  The first hat-trick in Test cricket since South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj's against West Indies in 2021, it is the 14th recorded by an Englishman.

  Atkinson also joined Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali and Johnny Briggs as the only England players to score a Test century and hat-trick.

  England became the first nation to score 500,000 Test runs during day two, while Root passed 50 for the 100th time at this level.

• Nissanka puts Sri Lanka in strong position despite Verreynne ton

  Pathum Nissanka spearheaded Sri Lanka's chase as they closed out day two of their second Test against South Africa in a strong position.

  Nissanka scored 89 from 157 deliveries, with that knock including 11 fours and one six, before he was bowled by Keshav Maharaj (1-46).

  South Africa's Kyle Verreynne played a starring role with the bat for the hosts earlier on in Friday's play at St George's Park, plundering 58 from just 50 balls for an unbeaten 105.

  Verreynne's efforts saw South Africa reach 358 before they were bowled out, but Nissanka and his fellow opener Dimuth Karunaratne made good in-roads before the latter was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada (1-40) in the 16th over.

  Proteas wicketkeeper Verreynne took the catch, and he followed that up by sending Dinesh Chandimal (44) packing from a Dane Paterson delivery, but by that stage Sri Lanka had progressed to 150.

  They had reached 199 by the time Maharaj got the crucial wicket of Nissanka, who was dropped early in his innings, 11 overs later, though the damage had been largely done, with Angelo Mathews (40 not out) and Kamindu Mendis (30) further chipping away at South Africa's lead before stumps, which the hosts reached on 242-3.

  Data Debrief: Verreynne drags South Africa out of trouble

  Matters looked bleak at the start of play for the Proteas, who were on 269-7, and they had owed many of those runs to Ryan Rickelton, who scored 101 on day one. 

  Yet Verreynne anchored their innings and dragged them to a respectable total, tallying up his third Test ton in the process in his 22nd match in the longest format.

  He clubbed 12 fours and three maximums, with his total coming from a 78.94 strike rate.

  But with Verreynne and Rickelton combining for 206 of South Africa's 358 runs, while Temba Bavuma contributed 78, the rest of the Proteas batters must step up in their second innings.

• England on top in Wellington after scintillating Brook century

  Harry Brook smashed an incredible century and Brydon Carse followed up with crucial wickets as England ended day one of their second Test against New Zealand in a commanding position.

  England had initially been reduced to 43-4 after batting first and were indebted to Brook, who hit 123 from 115 deliveries to claim his second ton in as many matches.

  Brook and Ollie Pope (66) put on a 174-run stand for the fifth wicket to get the tourists' innings back on track.

  "I think that might be my favourite hundred so far, I enjoyed that one a lot," a delighted Brook said.

  "Most of the balls came out of the middle of the bat and it feels pretty special to be batting like that.

  "We were three down when I came in and the pitch was doing quite a bit. It was seaming and swinging, so I'm just glad I put my attacking mode on. I really took it to them and put them under a lot of pressure.

  "They had to try and bowl at the stumps early on and I felt like the time to run down was then, cash in when it's full.

  "I just tried to take them off their length and stop them bowling on the stumps. The best mode of defence for me was attack and thankfully it came off."

  With Zak Crawley (17), who hit a six in the first over, top-scoring within the first four wickets and Chris Woakes (18) after Brook and Pope, it is not an exaggeration to say that England largely owe their score of 280 to two batsmen.

  But it was not until the changeover that the value of their partnership came to the fore, with England's bowlers able to claim important wickets to leave New Zealand 86-5 at stumps.

  Gus Atkinson, Ben Stokes and Woakes all claimed one wicket each, with Carse taking 2-28.

  Kane Williamson (37) had survived a caught behind review and being balled off a no-ball from Carse before the fast bowler finally got his man.

  Carse had a hand in the final three wickets of the day, having executed a diving catch to get Rachin Ravindra, before Williamson and Daryl Mitchell were both caught off his deliveries.

  Data debrief: Brook and Carse get England on top

  Brook's century in Wellington was the eighth of his career and second in as many Tests.

  He got to 100 in just 91 balls, while his fifth-wicket stand with Pope also came at more than one run per ball. Carse, meanwhile, contributed to a period in which New Zealand lost four wickets for just 27 runs.

  The Black Caps are aiming for a sixth Test win of 2024, which would be the most victories they have recorded in a single calendar year, but they have plenty of work to do if they are to achieve that feat.