Ben Stokes cut a relieved figure when his press conference before this third Test against New Zealand belatedly veered away from his recent absence for disciplinary reasons and into his favourite memories of Trent Bridge.
The Ashes win at this venue in 2015 was the first that came to mind, Stuart Broad’s eight for 15 and the like. Then came his recollections of the second Test against New Zealand four years ago, when Jonny Bairstow went gangbusters in the run chase and Bazball was said to have been born.
Well, if England are to win the decider and ease the crisis triggered by Stokes after Lord’s, it may well top the lot. Because at the end of a baking hot first day, New Zealand having racked up an eye-watering 361 for four with centuries for Tom Latham and Devon Conway, the hosts appeared to be in need of a miracle.
Perspiration was in abundance, inspiration less so. While the pitch at Trent Bridge was a heartbreaker for the bowlers – a symptom of the heatwave – there were already some signs of it breaking up. Batting last, which England are set to do, is unlikely to be as straightforward as Latham and Conway found it.
Their 317-run stand was a record for a New Zealand opening pair in England, passing the 185 that John Wright and Trevor Franklin amassed at Lord’s back in 1990. Latham was in princely form from the outset en route to 151, while Conway turned a scratchy start into 157 with some brutality in the final session.
More ominous was the fact that the last time a pair of visiting openers went past 300 – South Africa’s Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie putting on 338 at Edgbaston in 2003 – it persuaded Nasser Hussain that his time as England captain was up. Notably, Stokes has declined to commit to anything beyond this Test.
Chances were few and far between during the 72 overs that Latham and Conway stitched together in punishing fashion. But to the frustration of a sellout crowd that was similarly battling the heat, a couple did come England’s way.
The most telling was in the afternoon when Conway propped forward to Shoaib Bashir on 71 and a stifled appeal for lbw followed. Everyone believed there was an inside edge and the notion of a review was quickly dismissed, only for replays to show it struck Conway’s pad first and was going to hit the stumps.
The more galling came after tea, however, when Jamie Smith dropped a clanger on his return behind the stumps to hand Latham a life on 129. Gus Atkinson, back from his own Rex Rooms-related absence, had managed to coax a leg-side strangle, only for Smith to meet it with crocodile hands.
In the end it needed Stokes to produce the breakthrough himself, finding some extra energy from somewhere to tease a tired edge behind from Latham that allowed Smith to atone. With Conway then holing out to Joe Root’s tweakers in the next over, both ends had suddenly been prised open.
As the crowd thinned out towards the end of the day, Henry Nicholls and Rachin Ravindra seemed to be holding firm. But a poor pull shot by Ravindra off Atkinson offered Atkinson the wicket his efforts deserved, before Jofra Archer produced a snorter to remove Nicholls on 36 and trigger the close.
Things had appeared to be breaking England’s way before play. New Zealand announced that they had lost Matt Henry and Glenn Phillips to injury, having already ruled out Kyle Jamieson for workload reasons. England, meanwhile, had upgraded the callow side that was hammered at the Oval with four changes.
after newsletter promotion
But then it happened. The coin went up, Latham called correctly, and made the only decision there was to be made. It sent England into the madhouse from the outset, with Latham and Conway cruising to 108 for no loss by lunch, then 213 for no loss by tea, before the late strikes that provided an oasis in the desert.
Things might have been very different had Stokes not moved third slip to gully in the sixth over of the day. Needless to say, the very next delivery from Archer took the edge of Latham’s bat and flew through the vacated spot. Where once such moves produced wickets, now they produce groans.
Archer was used sparingly by Stokes – just two four-over spells before tea – while Bashir was tasked with a holding role at one end to allow Atkinson and Josh Tongue to rotate at the other. Bashir began relatively well, only to lose control of his length later on and allow Conway to cash in.
Save for some bouts of cramp, Conway and Latham enjoyed the conditions, not least an outfield that meant the ball raced off the bat. Latham’s 17th Test century drew him level with Martin Crowe’s career tally, while Conway’s eighth was an impressive personal battle against the technical issues that have dogged him of late.
If there was some hope for Stokes then it came from the fact that the Bairstow-inspired win he remembered from four years ago featured New Zealand sitting pretty on 405 for four in their first innings. This is a different surface, however, and a very different England team to go with it.