England's Dawid Malan looks up after getting out to New Zealand's Tim Southee. Photo / AP Photo
England's Dawid Malan looks up after getting out to New Zealand's Tim Southee. Photo / AP Photo
Sorting out their first test batting woes is more an individual process than a collective problem to solve, according to England batsman Dawid Malan.
Being rolled for just 58 in the first session of the Eden Park day-nighter was a shock to England, a delight for New Zealand and a believe it or not experience for the crowd at Eden Park.
Embattled England batted 126.1 overs in the second innings - 106 more than they had on day one - in a battle to save the test, but they came up about an hour short on the final evening as New Zealand's innings and 49-run win put them in the box seat to win the series when the second and final test starts at Christchurch's Hagley Oval on Friday.
Lefthander Malan, who had a decent Ashes series before coming to New Zealand, went for two and 23, both times caught behind the wicket off fast-medium pair Trent Boult and Tim Southee during their purple patch. He believes it is a personal fix that's required.
"The coach (Trevor Bayliss) has spoken to everyone. Each batsman has his own style of playing and it's about maximising that to the best of our ability," Malan said.
"It was bitterly embarrassing from our point of view. We struggled a lot in the Ashes and came here with high hopes of scoring a lot of runs. Obviously we came up against very good New Zealand bowlers who are really skilful and we weren't up to the task on the first day."
England batted as if stuck in a phone box on the first day. They were better in the second innings but too many wickets were gifted away, notably top scorer Ben Stokes, in the over before the dinner break, when he had the saving of the match in his hands.
Veteran opener Alastair Cook, whose 12,012 test runs are more than 3000 ahead of second best for England, and sixth highest alltime, missed out twice, totalling seven runs off 32 balls, caught behind both times off Boult. But Malan said he's hardly likely to change his technique at this stage of his career.
"He's scored 12,000 runs playing from the crease and he's going to stick to what works for him, what's true to him."
New Zealand's BJ Watling, right, embraces teammate Neil Wagner after they dismissed England's Chris Woakes. Photo / AP Photo
New Zealand wicketkeeper BJ Watling is preparing for a vastly-improved England outfit in Christchurch.
"We saw in the second innings what they're capable of. We expect them to be a lot tougher in this test and we have to be on our game," he said.
New Zealand are 3-from-3 in tests this summer and legspinner Ish Sodhi is relishing coming into a winning test unit for his first five-dayer since late 2016.
His good luck is the mirror image of Todd Astle's misfortune.
Astle has picked up a side strain and so won't get a chance to seal the series victory in Christchurch. His three for 39 on the final day was an important ingredient in New Zealand's win. Sodhi has made his reputation more in short form cricket, but he'll take strong form into his 15th test, after taking 12 for 62 for Northern Districts against Wellington this week to follow a seven-wicket haul against Otago a few days earlier.
Sodhi expects England to be aggressive against him.
"That's the nature of international cricket, the batters come a lot harder than in the past. The way they try to put pressure on you is play more shots."
He's hoping to be ready for that, and be a part in New Zealand securing their first series win over England since 1999. Since then there have been three drawn series and four lost. New Zealand have the bit between their teeth and aren't about to easily relinquish their edge.
