England have taken a step towards igniting their attack by picking Alex Mitchell at scrum-half for their crucial World Cup opener against Argentina in Marseille on Saturday.
Mitchell was omitted from the original 33-man squad named by Steve Borthwick only to be given a reprieve when Jack van Poortvliet suffered a tournament-ending ankle injury.
Having impressed on his first Test start against Fiji, the 26-year-old has retained half-back duties with the aim of adding zip to England’s game, while Danny Care provides support from the bench.
Tom Curry makes his first appearance under Borthwick and his maiden outing at any level since Sale lost to Saracens in the Gallagher Premiership final in May after being given the nod at openside.
Curry has been struggling with an ankle injury sustained during training in early August but in an indication of his influence on England, he has been thrust straight into the back row.
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.
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.
England captain Ben Stokes is confident that opener Zak Crawley can improve his poor record against New Zealand in the second Test in Wellington.
During England's eight-wicket triumph in the first Test, Crawley scored just one run from 20 deliveries across his two innings, with Matt Henry dismissing him on both occasions.
That subsequently brought his batting average down to 9.88 against New Zealand, having struggled in his nine Tests and 17 innings against the Kiwis.
Since 2000, only West Indies' Marlon Samuels (9.81 against Sri Lanka) has played as many innings against the same opponents and ended with a lower batting average.
"Some guys have bogey teams, some guys have teams they do really well against," Stokes told BBC Sport.
"We're one Test match into a series against New Zealand, but over the past 18 months Zak has been absolutely phenomenal for us."
Stokes did, however, point to the job done by Crawley and his opening partner Ben Duckett in setting the tone at the beginning of an England innings.
Of all pairs to have opened at least 10 times for England in Tests, Crawley and Duckett's run-rate of 5.03 is at least a run faster than the next quickest, which is Crawley and Alex Lees.
"Those two have been such a successful pairing for us," added Stokes.
"They go out there with a mindset of putting the opposition bowlers under pressure straight away, not allowing them to settle in."
Both England and New Zealand are unchanged for the second Test in Wellington, with Chris Woakes named among the squad despite his poor away record.
Woakes' wickets cost an average of 51.4 runs compared to 21.6 at home, but he did make a crucial intervention in the first Test in Christchurch.
During New Zealand's second innings, he grabbed the wickets of Kane Williamson (61) and Tom Blundell (0) in successive deliveries on his way to figures of 3-59.
"Someone with his skill level should never doubt themselves wherever they are in the world," said Stokes.
"It's belief in himself, belief from myself and Brendon McCullum that he's not just someone who is going to be playing in England."
An England victory in Wellington would also secure their first series win in New Zealand since 2008.
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