England suffer day of pain with jobs on the line

Ben Stokes wore a wide grin as he led England off at the end of a sweltering day of hard toil that at one stage threatened to spiral out of control. You can poke many holes in this England team, but two wickets in the final five minutes of a day spent in the field in 32C temperatures was proof the spirit is strong despite the travails of the past few weeks. New Zealand, at 361 for four, still had the better of the day but it could have been so much worse for England and Stokes who wore a face of pain while waiting for the first wicket to fall at 5.23pm as Tom Latham and Devon Conway feasted on a flat batting pitch for an opening stand of 317. England suffer day of pain with jobs on the line It was a record New Zealand first-wicket partnership against England and threatened the kind of day that finishes captains off. The last time an opening pair piled on 300 in England, Nasser Hussain stood down a few days later as captain. Add in a dropped catch by the wicketkeeper, the failure to review an lbw and you can see why thoughts were flicking back to Edgbaston in 2003. Considering the Ashes result and the chaos of the past couple of weeks, those in charge of this England side need a win this week otherwise a reluctant ECB board may have to act. “Massive” was how Stokes summed up this match at the toss. Despite the late wickets of two set batsmen, Rachin Ravindra and Henry Nicholls, this is still a tough hole for England to climb out of with a dry pitch puffing dust already and sure to become harder to bat on as the game wears on. But at least spirits were lifted at the end, and there is a small window of opportunity if they can manufacture wickets quickly and bat well while the pitch is still true. Stokes was supported by a wide circle of family and friends on an emotional return to the side. He was treated by the Trent Bridge crowd as the people’s champion, receiving big ovations as he led the team on to the field and when he came on to bowl. Before this Test, Stokes refused to look beyond this week sparking speculation in some quarters he was thinking of giving it all up; totally worn down. Let’s hope not because Stokes is the least expendable of the management trio. Perhaps Brendon McCullum started to wonder whether his old New Zealand mates might just finish him off as they piled on the runs. Rob Key was not at Trent Bridge – his place in the pre-match huddle was taken by national selector Marcus North – and he is feeling the heat far more now than he did in Australia thanks to the handling of curfewgate on top of all the mistakes made in Australia. All three needed a break at Trent Bridge to ease the pressure and New Zealand losing Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry – two heroes of the tourists’ win at the Oval – withdrawing with injury in the morning seemed to be that slice of good fortune. That, however, was evened up by New Zealand winning the toss. They batted first condemning England to bowl on a flat track with a lightning outfield on a sun-drenched day, when the ball did nothing off the surface or through the air. Josh Tongue was disappointing on his home ground, and Gus Atkinson plugged away on his return. Jofra Archer was missing for large chunks of the day but rallied to knock over Henry Nicholls in the final over. Shoaib Bashir was steady until he tired after tea and gave Conway some easy runs. A bit of bad luck and some errors cost England. Stokes fiddled with his field in the sixth over, moving third slip to a second gully only for Latham on eight to edge Jofra Archer through the space left behind. Shoaib Bashir was on within 45 minutes, a sign of the state of the pitch, and Stokes received a huge cheer when he marked out his run up just after the first hour. There was little for the crowd to enjoy other than watch two New Zealand openers take their opportunities. Latham built steadily, picking off bad balls while Conway struggled a little more with plenty off the inside edge but made up for that with his trademark strength playing square cuts and drives when given the width. Bashir had a chance when Conway on 71 was beaten by a bit of turn pushing forward but England thought it was bat before pad and failed to review. Ball tracking proved otherwise and Conway would have departed for 71. Latham reached his first hundred since 2019 against one of the big three teams – England, Australia or India – off 149 balls with 10 fours and Conway followed him in reaching his century after tea. They eased past New Zealand’s previous highest opening stand against England of 271 that had stood since 1930 and thoughts of Marsh and Taylor batting through a whole day at Trent Bridge started to form. Those fears grew when Jamie Smith missed a simple catch off Latham on 129 when he gloved Gus Atkinson down the leg side. At 276 for no wicket, Atkinson’s double teapot and effing and jeffing were understandable. The tiredness of the batsmen showed when Latham wearily cut at Stokes and feathered a catch behind shouting in anger as he did so. Seven balls later Conway gave it away slogging Joe Root to wide long-on. Henry Nicholls and Rachin Ravindra were bedding in for day two when a piece of committed fielding from Bashir on the boundary turned out to be inspirational. He chased a ball from Nicholls hard down to fine leg and after an age the third umpire deemed it three runs, not four. That put Ravindra on strike and next ball he played a horrible swipe off Atkinson that was top edged to Smith. Stokes sprinted down to Bashir to hug him. Archer steamed in for the next ball of what would be the final over and hit the channel finding Nicholls’ outside edge. A glimmer of hope. Bashir fails to do his job on return to side It was horribly reminiscent of the only time that England have gone through a whole day of bowling in a home Test without taking a single wicket. But there were extenuating circumstances at Trent Bridge in 1989. Some England players were defecting mid-series to go on a rebel tour of apartheid South Africa. England’s attack that laboured fruitlessly against Australia’s opening pair, of Mark Taylor and Geoff Marsh, did not consist of the best bowlers in the land. A second difference: English cricket a generation ago contained serious spinners, gnarled old pros who bowled hundreds of overs every season and could land every ball on the same newspaper, and a folded tabloid at that. Australia in 1989 posted 600 after that wicketless opening day but they racked them up at a rate below three runs an over. Eddie Hemmings’s off-breaks went at only 2.4 per over, and Nick Cook’s slow left-armers for only 2.2, half the rate Shoaib Bashir has conceded in this Test so far. Bashir was unfortunate to have a wicketkeeper, Jamie Smith, who deprived him of a wicket: Devon Conway would have been lbw Bashir 71. Overall, though, Bashir was bashed. He could not hold the line when Ben Stokes needed his spinner to keep some control, thus New Zealand were out of sight when England took their little cluster of evening wickets. Bashir has been bowling fairly tidily but not penetratively for Derbyshire in division two of this season’s championship. We have yet to see how he can bowl in Test cricket now against right-handers, as every New Zealander who faced a ball on day one was a left-handed batsman; and, to date, the regrettable evidence is that he is not bowling so well against left-handers as he used to do. Trent Bridge is a difficult ground for off-spinners, an allowance that should be made. It was Graeme Swann’s least productive Test ground in England, because the pitch was so true for batting: no wear and tear, which would make the ball vary in its amount of bounce and turn. What the pitch did was too predictable. But that was Swann’s day, more than a decade ago, and this is now, in a dry summer and a heatwave. At the end of day one this pitch looks to have a looser surface than the traditional featherbed, like the one on which Taylor and Marsh slowly overwhelmed England. Bashir bowled quicker and quicker as the day went on, and dropped increasingly short. That video which Ben Stokes sent to Brendon McCullum – the one in which Bashir announced himself by dropping ball after ball on a spot against Sir Alastair Cook: where have that drift, dip and steadiness gone? Bashir had tasted success here against the modest line-ups of Zimbabwe and West Indies. Subsequently he has improved as a batsman and fielder – like that diving stop in the penultimate over which turned a four into three - but not as an off-spinner. New Zealand’s record-breaking openers merely had to wait on the back foot for Bashir to drop a ball short and club it. That period before the second new ball becomes due: it is then, above all, when a captain needs his finger-spinner to keep a lid on the scoring-rate, so his seamers can have a breather, but Stokes had to resort to Jacob Bethell and another off-spinner in Joe Root. The most prolific wicket-taker in all first-class cricket was Wilfred Rhodes of Yorkshire with more than 4,000, a slow left-armer himself. He could forgive other spinners for being driven down the ground, but never the ones who were picked off square of the wicket after dropping short – and falling short themselves. OVER 84: NZ 361/3 (Nicholls 36 O’Rourke 0) Unlike Ravindra, Nicholls does take on the drive and pings Atkinson through cover for four and then has a go at the one across his bows from round the wicket, flicking it wide of Smith. Bashir sprints after it, dives to parry it away from the rope, gets up and chases it again to dive and claw it back. After a lengthy check the umpires confirm they ran three and it did not cross the rope. That means Ravindra has one ball to face and he gets himself out from it. Stokes and Roots ran to Bashir to embrace him. . Wicket! Ravindra c Smith b Atkinson 7 Assist from Bashir whose excellent fielding puts Ravindra on strike and he top edges a cross-batted swipe straight up the chimney. FOW 361/3 I was just having a right moan to Nick that it didn’t matter if that was three or four. But it did! What an awful shot from Ravindra in the circumstances. Had it been four, he would not have been on strike. Joe Root sprints straight over to Shoaib Bashir to thank him for a superb effort in the field to save the run. OVER 82: NZ 353/2 (Nicholls 28 Ravindra 7) Atkinson shares new-ball duties and starts with a maiden. England want Ravindra to have a drive at one but he won’t be tempted and although he does play and miss it was while attempting to defend. The final ball of the over jags back in and threatens the stumps after Ravindra decides to leave but vaulted off-stump, confirming Ravindra’s good judgment. OVER 81: NZ 353/2 (Nicholls 28 Ravindra 7) After some treatment and a towelling down, Nicholls continues. Archer tries to bluff him into thinking he would be bounced again and targets the stumps instead but Nicholls defends stoutly and gets in line against the two following shorter balls, leaving one and blocking the other. OVER 80.3: NZ 353/2 (Nicholls 28 Ravindra 7) Things can only get better after Archer starts with a loose, short ball that sits up pleasantly and Nicholls pulls it for four. Two balls later Nicholls is deceived by Archer’s pace as he shapes to pull and is clonked on the helmet just above the left ear. He gives it a good rub but will have to undergo a concussion check. This concussion test is taking ages, and some of the England fielders are sitting on the Trent Bridge outfield. They will get some good rest tonight. Most of the crowd have now left. OVER 80: NZ 349/2 (Nicholls 24 Ravindra 7) England continue their ploy of trying to trap Nicholls swishing at one and having him caught down the legside. Smith does catch him off his hip but there was no wood involved. After five dot balls, Nicholls pinches the strike with a tuck off his thigh-pad. England take the new ball and give it to Archer. So despite the slightly confusing bowling changes, England are taking the new ball tonight with 28 minutes to use it. OVER 78: NZ 346/2 (Nicholls 22 Ravindra 6) Nicholls seems cramped for room to free his arms when pulling but it doesn’t reduce the effectiveness, here cuffing Atkinson for two. Now Stokes is stretching his calf. The toll in this heat is unforgiving. I wonder if England are thinking about not taking the new ball this evening. Their new ball specialists, Archer and Atkinson, are both bowling as the 80-over mark nears. Could they go for a bit of damage limitation until stumps tonight and then take it first thing tomorrow? OVER 77: NZ 343/2 (Nicholls 20 Ravindra 5) Archer comes round the wicket targeting a catch down the legside off Nicholls who has an involuntary flick at anything across him. The first attempt is too short and Nicholls short-arms a pull for two. He duly plays and misses at a fuller one across his pads that was trying to bring leg gully into play but he nails another one, pulling it through long leg for four more. Atkinson replaces Tongue who was stretching his hamstring at the end of his last over which was supposed to be the first of a spell. Conway and Latham’s achievements 3 – Latham and Conway’s stand of 317 was the third-highest opening partnership against England in Test history. The highest is 338, which was made by South Africa openers Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs in July 2003 at Edgbaston. 14 – Latham and Conway’s partnership is the joint 14th highest opening partnership in Test history. 415 is the record, set by Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs against Bangladesh in 2008. 2 – This was just the second time both opposition openers have reached 150 in the same innings against England. The other instance occurred in the aforementioned match against South Africa in 2003. OVER 76: NZ 336/2 (Nicholls 14 Ravindra 4) Root is hooked out of the attack after a two-over spell of one for five. Tongue takes his place and overpitches to Nicholls who drills it through the covers for four with impeccable timing and an aesthetically pleasing high elbow. Tongue redeems the over with five successive dot balls but seems to be feeling his hamstring. Good moment for a drinks break and the dreaded pickle juice for the cramping players. OVER 75: NZ 332/2 (Nicholls 10 Ravindra 4) Here’s Jofra Archer and he beats Nicholls with his first ball from over the wicket that pitches on leg and middle and nibbles away past the edge. He does the same to Ravibdar with the sixth ball to bookend the over to yet another pair of left-handers (look what being in league with the devil does for Kiwis). But between those two deliveries Nicholls tucks four off his hip, rolls his wrists on a pull to hit his second boundary and clip a single off his toes. A proper guttural roar from Stokes when he took that wicket. But he’s now off the field, and being replaced by Archer, which is curious. OVER 73: NZ 319/1 (Conway 157 Nicholls 1) I do apologise to Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis who in fact had the largest partnership against England in the last 14 years when they made an unbeaten 377 at the Oval in 2012, more recently than Hussey’s and Haddin’s stand. Stokes finally makes the breakthrough when Latham plants his feet and fiddles after the ball with his bat. Given the relief, small wonder that Root and Stokes, in particular, are delighted. OVER 71: NZ 315/0 (Latham 150 Conway 155) And indeed here is Stokes. He runs in hard as ever but is so flushed in the face you realise the toll it takes. Latham also brings up his 150 by playing tip and run to point. A pair of daddy hundreds now. What a feast day this has been for New Zealand. Enjoyed this: OVER 69: NZ 307/0 (Latham 147 Conway 150) La, la, la, la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la, Joe Root. The captain from the Oval is brought on to bowl and greeted thus by the crowd. He yields a single which is a proper result on days like these. Harry Brook – not Joe Root – is captaining England with Ben Stokes off the field. OVER 68: NZ 306/0 (Latham 147 Conway 149) Conway has a big swipe at Bethell and launches it off a thick edge over slip for two. I would have said an injudicious hack but then I shouldn’t really talk about myself it turned out all right for Conway as it has all day. After a spot of milking and rapid rotation, Latham reverse sweeps the left-armer for four. This is the largest partnership against England for 16 years, since Brad Haddin and Mike Hussey put on 307 at the Gabba in 2010-11 OVER 66: NZ 292/0 (Latham 138 Conway 144) Latham connects with a couple of pulls but cannot pierce the field and Atkinson tries a slower one as part of a three-card trick. Latham doesn’t pick it and has a big swat at it but doesn’t connect as he all completes his swing before the ball got there. Atkinson pitches the next ball up, looking for the edge and Latham laces it through the civers with the most elegant of drives for four. OVER 64: NZ 282/0 (Latham 134 Conway 138) After Latham was given that life, Latham pulls Atkinson for four to take his side to 280, the highest partnership for NZ against England. The over ends with Conway top-edging a pull just short of Bethell at fine leg. If it wasn’t for the bad luck England would have none at all. This opening partnership between Tom Latham and Devon Conway deserves to replace the previous first-wicket record for New Zealand against England, back in 1930. It was New Zealand’s inaugural Test series. More to the point it was effectively England’s 2nd XI or rather their 3rd XI. The Seconds were in the West Indies for the inaugural Test series there, while the Firsts were resting at home after touring Australia the previous winter. So the stand of 276 by Jackie Mills and Stewie Dempster passes into the cricket coffin of history. Smith drops Latham Legside strangle off the gloves and Smith shells it. That’s a blow to the solar plexus for Stokes and England. Looked like a dolly but his hands were too low and it hit his thumbs. Poor drop by Jamie Smith down the leg side followed by Emilio Gay getting nowhere near a pulled four on the boundary when he shgould have done better. No wonder Gus Atkinson was chuntering and not happy. Smith has worked hard this week with Sarah Taylor in training but the hot weather saps the keeper too and that was a lapse in concentration. Painful day. That is a shocker from Jamie Smith. No escaping it. Gus Atkinson is not the most demonstrative cricketer, but he’s severely hacked off at the moment. That drop from Smith would do that. Atkinson double tea-potting as they take a drink. OVER 63: NZ 276/0 (Latham 129 Conway 137) Bashir changes ends and serves up another drag-down that Latham pulls for four. As Messrs Butcher and Atherton point out, his control of length is not up to snuff at this stage of his career. Latham clips two more off his toes then square drives for a single. OVER 62: NZ 268/0 (Latham 122 Conway 136) Atkinson replaces Bashir who has been leaking runs since tea. His bouncer line is tighter than Tongue’s but, after Latham ducks one, they still find the gaps despite being cramped. Latham takes a single to long leg, Conway pirouettes to hook for four between the man at 45 and the man at 90 degrees to the wicket. New Zealand racing along at seven an over since tea, and having no qualms about taking on the short ball. Suspect Jofra Archer, who has only bowled eight overs so far today, might be summoned again soon. OVER 61: NZ 262/0 (Latham 121 Conway 131) Latham controls his pull to cuff a single and bring up the 250. Conway doesn’t bother rolling his wrists when one bounces higher and he carts it for six over deep backward square. Tongue goes again, pushing it wider, forcing Conway to fetch it from shoulder height and he cloths it just wide of the diving Duckett at midwicket. The impact from the bottom of the bat knocks the ball out of shape. Latham takes a bouncer with the replacement ball on and pulls it in front of Brook at shortish backward square for four then top edges the last ball just short of Bethell at fine leg. Costly over but two close shaves for the Kiwis. OVER 60: NZ 249/0 (Latham 115 Conway 124) Conway uses his feet to Bashir and turns a perfectly respectable delivery into a low full toss which he carts over wide mid-on for six. Conway is then caught at slip off his toe. Was there an inside edge? Brook acts as if he thought there was but no one else is convinced Bashir ends the over dropping short and Conway carves it through point for four. OVER 59: NZ 237/0 (Latham 115 Conway 112) England have only endured two longer partnerships against them since Stokes became captain, 236 in 67.2 overs between Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell at Trent Bridge in 2022, and 225 between Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique off 65.4 overs at Rawalpindi, the same year. England won both matches. Latham rolls the wrists on a pull to cuff Tongue for two runs and then a single and Conway cloths a pull off the toe for another. This is the time at 235 for no wicket – the first time in this series – for England to try a bouncer barrage. There was always enough seam movement at the Oval for the pace bowlers to bowl conventionally, whereas Trent Bridge is ever so placid. Placid at present that is, but the pitch is so dry there will be wear and tear – and a definite result. OVER 57: NZ 228/0 (Latham 111 Conway 107) Tongue has two out on the hook. Tongue finds some inswing to Conway who uses the shape to play a pick-up shot for four, with a swish of the bat starting on a trajectory of second slip through to square leg. It was hit in the air but well away from the men posted out on the rope. OVER 56: NZ 223/0 (Latham 110 Conway 103) The bails are off when Conway is beaten round his legs by Bashir but the ball had deflected off Smith’s pads and Conway was in his ground in any case. The left-hander drags a lofted drive, using only half the bat face, over wide mid-on for four then squirts a square drive behind point for four more to join his captain with a century. Only 10 minutes after tea Latham calls the physio on to treat his cramp. Tongue will replace Bethell who was employed only so ‘the Mop’ could switch to the Stuart Broad End. OVER 55: NZ 215/0 (Latham 110 Conway 95) Bethell starts with a full toss that Latham bunts to cover for a single. Conway has a waft at a slider, playing and missing, then chops his bat into the ground when trying to cut the next ball with another loose stroke. Summit fever. An idle teatime thought. Four years ago, a very high-scoring Test accelerated to a brilliant final-session conclusion as England eschewed the option of a draw to go for the Jonny Bairstow-inspired win. Already, a draw looks like a good result for England. But would they accept it? And what would the lie of the land be if so? Tea verdict How is the reset going? That was the question posed by a colleague just now. Painful session for England and back to back Tests for Archer and Tongue are taking their toll. Archer bowled a lively three-over spell, Bashir kept plugging away and should have had leg-before decision on Conway on 71 but England failed to review. It’s that kind of day. A 450 total feels par but this pitch will break up and batting last is looking tricky. OVER 54: NZ 213/0 (Latham 109 Conway 94) Atkinson swoops to make a tremendous diving stop at deep backward point to save two when Latham cuts Tongue wide of gully. The Kiwi captain flicks a single off his pads and his partner pulls the Notts quick, on his adopted home ground, with a short-arm jab for another single. Latham chisels out the fourth-stump yorker for a single and he walks off, as Mark Butcher says, having filled their boots. OVER 52: NZ 206/0 (Latham 104 Conway 92) Tongue replaces Bashir and arrows one into Latham’s knee roll from round the wicket via a scratch of the inside-edge. They have been exasperatingly close to a breakthrough but remain footsore and wicketless. They remain tenacious, though, and Stokes allows himself some rueful smiles. He will be proud of his bowlers in such heat. Maiden. Mid-afternoon in a hot summer. Trent Bridge a featherbed. Two batsmen ensconced in a huge partnership. It is one of the timeless scenes of English Test cricket. The first such partnership here that I saw was in 1973, my first Test in a professional capacity, as EW Swanton’s secretary or “amanuensis” as he called it. New Zealand batted for 188.1 overs – and they were amateur cricketers in those days. Bevan Congdon scored 176 and Vic Pollard 116. Good job that Kane Williamson has retired? OVER 51: NZ 206/0 (Latham 104 Conway 92) Tom Latham brings up NZ’s 200 and his 17th Test match century, the first with a streaky four off Stokes, flashing hard and slicing it over gully, the second glanced off his calves. Atkinson dived and hooked it back about a foot in from the rope but the ball carromed back over it. Stokes draws a loosed drive from Conway at one that held its line outside off but luck has deserted then today and the ball whistles past the edge. OVER 50: NZ 197/0 (Latham 95 Conway 92) Bashir continues. No barrage as yet with leg theory. Maybe England have had their fingers burnt by Jamieson and Phillips at the Oval. But it’s worth a risk against top-order batsmen. Conway moves into the nineties with a classy on-drive for four. He has nailed that stroke today. OVER 48: NZ 189/0 (Latham 92 Conway 87) Flight, dip and rip for Bashir, arcing the ball into Latham and fizzing past the edge of a loose drive. The excitement dies in Bashir’s throat. Stokes races in to try to run Latham out from mid-off after a claw-handed drive rattles towards him. He sprints in, slips and has to chase it back to the boundary as they run three. OVER 47: NZ 186/0 (Latham 89 Conway 87) Latham shapes to pull Stokes’ offside bouncer but changes his mind as it starts to climb and keeps rising. He points to some movement behind the bowler which is a consistent problem at Trent Bridge. Whether spectators ignore the stewards and retake their seats whenever they want or if it’s poor stewarding, I don’t know. But it’s been going on for years. Stokes considers a review when swinging one away from Latham from over the wicket and hit him on the knee roll but he sadly knows that it pitched outside leg. OVER 46: NZ 185/0 (Latham 88 Conway 87) Bashir finds Conway’s inside-edge a couple of times then overpitches to Conway who smears a drive between bowler and mid-on for four. Shoaib Bashir has bowled tidily enough considering he went for two fours in his first over - gone for less than three an over since then, plus the missed LBW when Jamie Smith told him not to appeal. But the tourists will put ever more heat on him as this innings goes on. OVER 45: NZ 180/0 (Latham 87 Conway 83) Stokes, after leaking three through point, comes over the wicket and cramps Latham with one that spits up and shapes back in. Latham defends late with an angled bat and turns back in relief to see the ball scoot past the stumps. Could easily have been a drag-on. Stokes gets another to surprise the batsman, popping up off a good length to strike Latham’s splice, taking a chunk out of the pitch. Latham loses his grip on impact and the ball spoons towards mid-on but lands 12ft short OVER 44: NZ 176/0 (Latham 84 Conway 82) Conway times the pants off a straight drive, spearing Bashir down the ground for four. Ian Ward suggests that given it’s swinging, Bashor should be replaced with a quick but then talks himself out of it when he says neither Atkinson nor Tongue are swingers. They are seamers. OVER 43: NZ 170/0 (Latham 83 Conway 77) Stokes curtails Archer’s second spell at three overs and brings himself on. Conventional swing for the England captain. Latham defends and leaves the ones that move away the most then chips a single off a thick edge down to backward point for a single. Having moved four away, Stokes switches the ball round and swings it into Conway who goes up en pointe to defend. OVER 42: NZ 169/0 (Latham 82 Conway 77) It was actually Jamie Smith who was first to insist it was bat first rather than pad. That certainty cost England as did wasting an earlier review for a hooping inswinger. Post-drinks, Latham takes a sharp single to mid-off as Stokes misfields and Conway plays a handsome late cut that steers the ball down through third man for four. OVER 41: NZ 164/0 (Latham 81 Conway 73) Latham jabs down to bayonet Archer’s yorker through third man for four then fences the bouncer down there too for a single. Conway leans forward to ease a drive through cover for two and then chucks his hands at a very loose drive, the swish of the curtain (rail). Oh no. England have missed a plumb lbw. Shoaib Bashir thought that was bat first, so gave up on the appeal almost instantly. Those behind the bat followed his lead, so there wasn’t even a discussion about a review. Inevitably: three reds. OVER 40: NZ 157/0 (Latham 76 Conway 71) Good over from Bashir, testing Conway’s gate, as he defends with bat and pad clamped together, the inside edge saving him from a leg-before. Or at least that’s what everyone thinks. But at the end of the over Sky shows a replay which suggests it was pad first and, if so, it would have been plumb had they reviewed. Just googled Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor, Trent Bridge 1989. It is getting to that point. They of course batted through the first day, closing on 301-0. Those of us who witnessed it, never mention it, Nick. That and Adelaide 2006-07 are scars on the soul. OVER 39: NZ 156/0 (Latham 75 Conway 71) Conway brings up NZ’s 150 by jamming out the attempted yorker which didn’t land, squirting the low full toss out into the onside for a single. Archer tries another yorker, this one straighter and Latham chisels it out with the toe, squeezing it into the gap between second slip and gully for four. OVER 38: NZ 149/0 (Latham 70 Conway 70) Bashir replaces Atkinson and puts five dot balls in the scorebook, some of them more credible than others as he angles the ball across the left-handed Latham a couple of times, the final instance costing him and England four byes as it beats the sweep, the stumps and the keeper. OVER 36: NZ 144/0 (Latham 69 Conway 70) It was Conway not Latham who had treatment for cramp and he gives his captain a pained look when forced to sprint back to complete a two for a leg-side flick off Atkinson. Latham takes a more genteel single to point and then Conway creams a cover drive for four. Atkinson tries to gull Latham into a leg-side strangle but he swishes at fresh air as the ball passes over the top of his bat and past his ribs. Jofra Archer bowled only four overs with the new ball, as if he was deliberately being held back to bowl in the afternoon. That was an incisive over, almost inducing Devon Conway to edge behind. Will Archer resort to short stuff, or stick with conventional line and length? OVER 35: NZ 137/0 (Latham 66 Conway 66) Archer, having been taken for two singles to point and square leg, angles one into Conway and gets it to nip away. The left-hander followed it with his hands, jabbing at the ball, eliciting a brief yelp of excitement followed by a sigh when it missed the edge. OVER 34: NZ 135/0 (Latham 65 Conway 65) A hammer of heat does not impede Atkinson who keeps plugging away at high pace, hurtling four down the corridor that Latham leaves alone. The last ball of the over is closer to the stumps, allowing Latham to rock back and punch it sq Stokes turns to Archer. Team Telegraph are taking great interest in the speed gun for Gus Atkinson’s bowling. He doesn’t look that quick but is consistently clocking 89mph and even hit 91 this week. OVER 32: NZ 132/0 (Latham 62 Conway 65) Stokes has set a trap on the drive for Latham with catchers in at short not silly mid-off and short cover. Atkinson started well, probing away but after trying to mess with his footwork by bouncing him, the next ball is sprayed on to his pads and he clips it down to deep backward square for a single. If it hasn’t been mentioned so far, when Tom Latham edged Jofra Archer through the just-vacated third slip area with his score on eight, Ben Stokes did change the field unilaterally to two slips and two gullies. But he then looked at Archer to run this change by him and Archer smiled, then carried on bowling. This fatal field change was made by joint agreement. OVER 31: NZ 131/0 (Latham 61 Conway 65) Kumar Sangakkara says on Sky that the two bowlers on this pitch that he wouldn’t want to face are Archer and Stokes, both of whom carry more threat to left-handers than AP Atkinson and JC Tongue. Conway opens the face a tad too soon and slices it uppishly through point for a single. Tongue holds his yorker back judiciously in Test cricket but it’s a fine weapon and, although it doesn’t remove a batsman this time, it does leave him on his knees on the pitch after veering into his toes. They run a leg-bye. Conway slices a drive between slip and gully streakily off a no-ball for four then followed it by creaming a cover drive off the extra ball for four more. OVER 30: NZ 120/0 (Latham 61 Conway 56) Gustavo starts with a pie, a full toss outside off ladled with gravy. Conway leans on to his front foot and smashes it through the covers for four. Atkinson improves after that loose start, nagging line from over the wicket but no movement off the pitch, only the angle to carry any threat to well-set left-handers. OVER 29: NZ 115/0 (Latham 61 Conway 51) Shoaib Bashir’s nine overs before lunch have given England a rare opportunity to avoid an over-rate sanction, managing 14 an hour in searing heat. Tongue strays too straight, full and back of a length. Conway fillets third man with a back-foot open-face drive for four then brings up his fifty with a whisk off his pads for a single. Ideal batting conditions overhead and a road of a pitch. The solace is that it ought to crumble later on and England’s task is to stay as close as they can to NZ before Shoaib has something to work with in the match’s third innings. The left-handers glean a single apiece to end the over. Gus Atkinson will now bowl from the Radcliffe Road End, switching round from his first spells. Two big questions as this game develops. - Will the NZ quicks get reverse-swing on a dry ground (surely yes). - Will Mitchell Santner maintain his sudden recent rise to being a Test spinner, not just a canny white-ball operator? In case you missed last night’s triumph England blaze their way into semi-finals England showed maturity to overcome their first real test of the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup to secure a place in the semi-finals with a 38-run win over the West Indies at Lord’s. It was the visitors who knocked England out of the last edition of the tournament, in a dismal performance in which they shelled five catches and stuttered in the absence of then-captain Heather Knight. The capitulation prompted questions about fitness and professionalism that have been difficult to shift even with a change of leadership. But in scorching heat more typical of Barbados than London, England held their nerve against the team who proved their undoing just two years ago, scoring 186 for seven and then limiting West Indies to 148. Their first wicket was not without controversy, however. Amy Jones was convinced Hayley Matthews had hit the ball as she was caught behind off Linsey Smith and England opted to review. There was a spike on UltraEdge but the pictures also showed a gap between bat and ball, which was acknowledged by the third umpire. Lunch verdict Toil. Lots of it for England today. We will learn a bit about their ticker during this game. If New Zealand post a big total, can they respond in kind on a road of a pitch? Shoaib Bashir bowling after 45 minutes summed it up. He did well considering his lack of cricket and with little to play with on a day one surface. Josh Tongue was disappointing, Jofra Archer looked a little leggy and was nowhere near full pace. After the full on news cycle of the past couple of weeks it was a bit of a shock to the system to spend two hours watching very little happen other than a couple of New Zealand openers ease the ball around Trent Bridge. England were granted luck with New Zealand losing Matt Henry and Glenn Phillips to injury but it was evened up by the toss. Lunch A morning of very hard yakka for England in the heat. The fact that Shoaib Bashir has got through nine overs – the first nine overs of his central contract, which started on October 1 – was an indication that things were not going perfectly. They have not bowled horribly, but have not been quite accurate enough on a shirt front with a lightning fast outfield. The good news is that after being fined at the Oval, Bashir’s heavy involvement meant they got through 28 overs here, and are only one behind the rate. That is positively rapid by their standards. OVER 28: NZ 108/0 (Latham 60 Conway 45) Latham pulls Stokes for four to end a perfect first session for New Zealand, who made good use of a perfect batting strip. The captain Latham was especially good, scoring at a strike-rate of 74 with minimal risk. England tried hard and Shoaib Bashir bowled nicely, but this is the dictionary definition of hard yakka. OVER 27: NZ 101/0 (Latham 56 Conway 44) Conway is partially done in the flight by Bashir and gets a thick edge wide of slip. It’s a long while since an England spinner bowled nine overs before lunch on the first day of a home Test. Bashir has had a good morning, even if figures of 9-1-30-0 are nothing to tweet about. OVER 26: NZ 101/0 (Latham 55 Conway 43) Stokes switches between bowling over and round the wicket. This is definitely a day to think outside the box, because all that exists inside the box is the middle of Tom Latham’s bat. Conway back cuts the last ball of the over for four to bring up New Zealand’s 100. OVER 22: NZ 85/0 (Latham 46 Conway 36) A loose ball from Stokes is flicked crisply for four by Conway. Stokes is mixing it up, trying to buy a wicket, which means leaking a few runs. That approach is probably fair enough because I’m not sure you can bore somebody like Latham out on this pitch. Conway maybe, though he looks determined to cash in after a tough tour of England and Ireland. OVER 21: NZ 76/0 (Latham 42 Conway 31) Bashir is milked a bit too easily in that over. This is only his third Test at Trent Bridge but he’s already taken more wickets than any other England spinner: 16 at an average of 19. England’s finest, Jim Laker and Derek Underwood, took 14 wickets apiece from three and five Tests respectively. Graeme Swann’s record here was surprisingly poor: 7 wickets at 51. But he did make a vital 28 with the bat against India in 2011. OVER 20: NZ 70/0 (Latham 39 Conway 28) An eventful first over from Stokes. Latham inside-edges his first ball for a single; Conway drives the second through mid-off for four, an almost pointedly emphatic shot, then gets a couple of thick inside-edges. Three false strokes in six balls represents a fine start, especially on this pitch. OVER 17: NZ 60/0 (Latham 34 Conway 23) Four singles from Bashir’s fourth over, during which Tom Latham and Devon Conway become the first New Zealand opening pair to put on 2000 Test runs. They’re only 22nd on the all-time list, which is a bit strange. Maybe New Zealand just don’t do long-term opening partnerships. OVER 15: NZ 54/0 (Latham 30 Conway 21) A good maiden from Bashir includes a seductive delivery to Conway, who tries to bash it through the off side and mistimes it straight into the ground. In the circumstances, personal and collective, Bashir has started really well. Many young bowlers would have been ruined by such a harrowing Ashes tour. OVER 13: NZ 54/0 (Latham 30 Conway 21) Never mind going big: New Zealand would like to go huge in this innings. They’ll be mindful of that famous Test in 2022, when they scored 553 batting first and still lost. Five of their top six from that game are playing here, the exception being Rachin Ravindra. A miscued drive from Conway lands not far short of Bashir, who is getting some encouraging dip. He’s started pretty well. OVER 11: NZ 51/0 (Latham 29 Conway 19) An early bowl for Shoaib Bashir, whose last delivery in Test cricket won the Lord’s Test against India a year ago. His fourth delivery is a beauty that dips, turns fractionally and is driven uppishly by Conway. Root dives to his right at short extra cover but can’t quite reach it. A poor ball is helped round the corner for four by Latham, who has quietly raced to 29 from 31 balls. OVER 10: NZ 45/0 (Latham 24 Conway 18) Josh Tongue replaces Archer, who bowled a muted spell of 4-0-15-0. His first ball is too full, too straight and put away through midwicket by Latham. The third is a carbon copy, bread and butter for a player of Latham’s class. This looks such a good pitch. It’ll be a minor miracle if England are batting before the close. OVER 9: NZ 36/0 (Latham 16 Conway 18) Latham times a short ball from Atkinson behind square for three. Conway gets four through the same area, though his runs came off a thick edge. The ball is doing nothing for the bowlers; if it continues like this England will need Stokes at his imaginative best in the field. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a Stokes captaincy masterclass. OVER 8: NZ 29/0 (Latham 13 Conway 14) A pretty good start for New Zealand, though Tom Latham was very lucky with that edge for four off Jofra Archer, the ball after third slip had been taken out. Latham is playing his 95th Test, yet perhaps still lacks a defining innings; a century in victory here would be exactly that. I wonder if Shoaib Bashir will be an option this morning: New Zealand have four left-handers in their top four and he has a fine record here. And, of course, it’s very hot. OVER 6: NZ 25/0 (Latham 12 Conway 12) The first near miss of the innings, and a frustrating moment for England. Latham edges Archer in the air and wide of the diving Brook at second slip. It would have gone straight to third slip, but England had moved him to a second gully after the previous delivery. Archer’s speed is lower than at the Oval, around 83mph. OVER 5: NZ 21/0 (Latham 8 Conway 12) Atkinson has temporarily lost his length. Successive half-volleys are squirted for three and then four by Latham and Conway respectively. In the last decade, the average runs per wicket in Trent Bridge Tests is 35, the highest in England*. That obviously includes the second innings, when scores are generally lower, and I suspect New Zealand will want at least 450 here. * No surprise that the lowest is Lord’s, 26 runs per wicket. OVER 2: NZ 5/0 (Latham 5 Conway 0) The consensus is that this pitch will be a belter, certainly for the first two or three days, so England would love a new-ball wicket or three. Latham fences a short ball from Archer, edging it on the bounce towards gully. The diving Bethell makes a partial stop that saves a couple of runs. Archer’s first over is a bit of a loosener, not as challenge as Atkinson’s. It can take him an over or two before he really gets into a spell. A big day for Bashir The last time Shoaib Bashir bowled in a Test match, at Lord’s a year ago, England were going to win the Ashes and he was going to be part of it. This is a big day for him, even more so given the heat, but he has some good memories of Trent Bridge to fall back on: two of his four Test five-fors have been taken on this ground. Memories of 2022 It was on this ground four years ago that Jonny Bairstow introduced the world to Bazball by pounding an astonishing, match-winning hundred against New Zealand. For the next 18 months, England played some of the most exhilarating Test cricket ever seen. Why not relive it with the great Rob Bagchi’s over-by-over report? ‘It was an emotional rollercoaster, a total whirlwind’ A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to interview Blair Tickner, about his remarkable time at Derbyshire, during which he learnt of his wife’s leukaemia diagnosis. This is a great test of New Zealand’s fast bowling depth. Henry and Jamieson are out, but they’re also missing Jacob Duffy, who is on paternity leave. So Tickner comes in. He’s got a decent record now, and has taken at least four wickets in every Test he played. There’s also a place for Ben Sears, who is quite quick and bowled very well on debut against Australia a couple of years ago. Sears an exciting inclusion So much disruption in the New Zealand side means that England are favourites, despite losing the toss. Ben Sears is a potentially exciting pick though: he has real pace, and troubled Australia on his Test debut a couple of years ago, though he can be erratic. New Zealand’s openers have been poor so far this series. This morning would be a perfect moment for that to change. Stokes and Richard Thompson shake hands We’ve just had a photo opp with the Crowe-Thorpe trophy, the two captains, officials, and members of Martin Crowe and Graham Thorpe’s families. It was here that Graham Thorpe made his Test debut 33 years ago. At the end, Ben Stokes shakes the ECB chairman Richard Thompson’s hand. In normal times, this wouldn’t be notable, but this week it is a little. Massive toss for New Zealand to win. Very simple decision to bat. They’ve got a much-changed attack – Phillips out for Santner, then Jamieson and Henry replaced by Sears and Tickner. Team news We know the England XI. New Zealand bring in Mitch Santner, Blair Tickner and Ben Sears for Kyle Jamieson, whose workload is being managed, and the injured pair of Matt Henry and Glenn Phillips. One consequence of those changes is that New Zealand have a much longer tail. England Duckett, Gay, Bethell, Root, Brook, Smith (wk), Stokes (c), Atkinson, Archer, Tongue, Bashir. New Zealand Latham (c), Conway, Nicholls, Ravindra, Mitchell, Blundell (wk), Santner, Smith, Tickner, O’Rourke, Sears. A walk to the cricket Already Nottingham sweats, its streets think of melting. The sky, long before the start of play, is not a healthy azure but a washed-out blue, Let’s walk to the cricket at Trent Bridge from Nottingham station. It is not hallowed turf but it is hallowed tarmac: Harold Larwood, when the world’s most famous fast bowler, used to walk for half-an-hour from his home to Kirkby-in-Ashfield station, meet up with fellow Notts pros, take the train to Nottingham and walk from the station. The old-fashioned way to warm up, and warm down on the way home. Thousands are coming from the station for this series decider. Yet there is an alternative to London Road. This part of Nottingham does not have ice running through its veins, but it does have water: the water of the Nottingham and Beeston Canal for a start, before we reach the River Trent. Let’s take the tow-path along this canal. Beneath the water-lilies a few tiddlers wriggle. And, beautiful to behold, the bank beside the tow-path is covered in wild flowers. They are evoking the original nature of this area of Nottingham, which is still known as The Meadows. The River Trent surely cools this cricket ground, if only by a couple of degrees of Centigrade. Imagine if it was not a wide river but an airport runway. So we are lucky here, even if Trent Bridge - like far too many cricket grounds in Britain and around the world - provides far too little shade, cynically little shade, for spectators who pay. A slice of luck for England England have had that slice of luck they need in their situation. New Zealand much weakened from the Oval. Win the toss and bat first and Ben Stokes has a great chance to change the mood around the team. First Brendon McCullum, then Stokes addressed the team huddle this morning before play. A united front? Almost certainly with a match to win. Why England have left out Ollie Robinson There are two principal reasons for Ollie Robinson’s omission here, both of which suggest he may not be quite as central to England’s rebuild as it appeared after Lord’s. The first is the conditions England expect. On Tuesday, when they made the decision, the pitch still had 20mm of grass on it. The pitch will be shaved right back, and the expectation is that this will be a flat, very dry surface that will break up, especially because of the heat and humidity that has made Nottingham feel more like Perth, another evocative riverside Test cricket venue, this week. That meant Shoaib Bashir was selected at a ground where he has enjoyed success (albeit against modest West Indies and Zimbabwe batting orders), and England opted for what McCullum was labelling “airspeed” in cricket’s latest buzzword. Atkinson, Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue, their quickest attack in a post-Mark Wood world, were selected and Robinson was the odd one out. No Matt Henry for New Zealand? Good morning from Trent Bridge, where it’s hot, but probably not quite as hot as this time yesterday. There’s a rumour coming from the middle that Matt Henry, man of the match at the Oval, is not playing... He’s milling around chatting to the umpire while Blair Tickner is marking his run up. Kyle Jamieson is already missing out as his workload is managed. New Zealand pay tribute to Bob Blair By Scyld Berry New Zealand’s players are wearing black armbands today in memory of Bob Blair, who was at the centre of the most poignant moment in their country’s cricket history. Blair, a 21-year-old fast bowler, was playing in the second Test of New Zealand’s tour of South Africa at Christmas time in 1953. The game was at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, the old rugby ground, and the cricket pitch accordingly did not receive all the care and attention it needed (it was soon closed and cricket shifted to the Wanderers). New Zealand’s best batsman at the time, Bert Sutcliffe, was hit on the head by one of the balls that kicked from this unreliable grass. It was bowled by South Africa’s Neil Adcock, renowned for being fast and nasty - and no helmets then. Sutcliffe was carted off to hospital, stitched up, bandaged and returned to Ellis Park where NZ were being blown away. Having retired hurt, he decided to resume his innings. When NZ’s ninth wicket fell - their total only 154 - Sutcliffe began to walk off. The last man, Bob Blair, was not going to bat because of the traumatic news he had received soon after this Test began: that his fiancee had been killed in the Tangiwai railway disaster. By ghastly irony, her name was Nerissa Love. A train from Wellington to Auckland, packed with almost 300 passengers because it was Christmas Eve, was crossing, late that night, a bridge over the Whangaehu river. One of its piers had collapsed only a few minutes before. Most of the train’s carriages ended up in the swollen river and 151 passengers, including Blair’s fiancee, had been killed. A tremendous roar then came out of the 23,000 crowd. Blair emerged from the players’ tunnel and walked out to bat, to help his country. He had not come to the ground that morning, having been left in the team hotel to grieve, but he responded to the call that he had heard or sensed. Hugh Tayfield was bowling his flat offbreaks, the tightest of post-war bowlers, who almost never went for more than two runs an over. The lefthanded Sutcliffe sailed into him and hit three sixes in one over, and as they were eight-ball overs Blair had time to hit another himself, so 25 runs were scored in that over, a record for Test cricket in that era long before T20. Blair was stumped in Tayfield’s next over, ending a last wicket stand of 33, but a statement of human courage had been made. Blair lived for another 73 years after his bereavement, and eventually married, and spent the rest of his working life in cricket, as an inspiring coach. It is right, after his death on his 94th birthday, that he should be remembered today. Stokes gives politician’s performance instead of further provoking ECB The England players have been buying portable fans because there is no air conditioning at the team hotel in heatwave-hit Nottingham, but at least Ben Stokes turned down the temperature surrounding his return. In one of the more diplomatic performances by an England captain, Stokes was good natured and amiable but refused to be drawn on any of the events surrounding his one-match suspension other than to thank the public for their support and apologise to his team-mates, in particular Joe Root, for leaving them to face New Zealand without him at the Oval. There were occasional long-winded answers to kill time without actually saying anything in a politician’s performance and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will be sighing with relief that Stokes held the party line: to focus on this match. It was probably the only outcome considering he has a £1.3m central contract and was issued a written warning as part of the disciplinary hearing into the curfew break. It was not a time to provoke his employers. Good morning The heat is on, literally and figuratively. Temperatures are expected to reach 35 degrees at Trent Bridge, where England meet New Zealand in a mouthwatering series decider. Defeat here, on top of all the off-field negativity, could bring an often glorious era of English cricket to an end. Ben Stokes returns to captain the side after being left out at the Oval for disrespecting the curfew. He apologised to the team as soon as he returned to the camp. “That was one of the first things I had to do as a captain,” he said. “You look at the situation, and it affects more than just myself. It affects a lot of people, it affected Joe, the squad, the people outside the playing environment. “You need to be big enough and man enough to take that upon your shoulders, and look everyone who it has affected in the eye and apologise the way you need to apologise. Joe Root and I have known each other since we were kids. He got put into a situation which he never thought would be bestowed upon him again having walked away from the captaincy. It showed that not only is he one of the greats of the game in terms of on the field, but it shows a lot about his character and seeing him stand up and take that responsibility on last week.” England’s XI is the same as the one that beat New Zealand at Lord’s – with one exception. Ollie Robinson, the player of the match in that game, has been left out, presumably because of concerns about his durability in such extreme conditions. Jofra Archer is a reasonable replacement. England’s last home series defeat was against New Zealand in 2021. That was a two-Test series, so there’s a very small asterisk against it. If you lose a series of three Tests or more, it’s usually a fair cop. The last time England did so at home was against Sri Lanka in 2014, during another post-Ashes crisis. Then, as now, England’s future looked uncertain and a bit scary. A year later they won the Ashes.