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What a fillip for England at the end of a punishing day. Those late two wickets will not change the complexion of a day dominated by NZ but it may help England keep them within reach, providing they bat well, of course.
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Nicholls c Smith b Archer 36 Jaffa from Jofra. Arrowed in from round the wicket and Nicholls, who was trying to withdraw his bat, couldn’t do it quick enough as it straightened on him. FOW 361/4
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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. .
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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.
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Only a single off Archer’s third over with the new ball. Nicholls is compact in defence and gets off strike with a push to cover for a single.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Root replaces Archer and is taken for two singles. Kumar Sangakkara says he is ‘criminally underused’ as a bowler. I suspect he won’t be in this match.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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A very weary Devon Conway trudges off, with cramp in his hamstrings and hands. But he will enjoy the sleep of the just tonight.
The scale of their achievement.
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Conway c sub (Fisher) b Root 157 One brings two. Big wipe across the line but plinks it high to long-on where Fisher takes a good, sliding catch. FOW 319/2
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 25, 2026One brings two!
Joe Root scalps Devon Conway as England finally remove both New Zealand openers in the space of seven balls 💥💥 pic.twitter.com/uBGaakA6Ka
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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.
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Latham c Smith b Stokes 151 Chases a wide one and shouts ‘Oh no!’ when he nicks off to the keeper. FOW 317/1
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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:
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Bethell beats Conway with successive deliveries outside off with a pair of sliders after being clipped and swept for two singles and a two.
Ben Stokes is now limbering up. Wouldn’t put it past him to bowl a 10-over spell until stumps.
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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.
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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
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Better from Bashir but they still milk him for four runs. Where’s Jofra? Next? Nope. Bethell will have a second spell.
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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.
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Conway chassés down the pitch and hammers Bashir for six over wide mid-on. Here’s Bashir’s problem. It’s his length.
This is his pitch map since tea:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Five tidy deliveries and an awful drag-down from Bashir that Conway devours with a pull stroke, collaring the ball and smacking it through midwicket for four.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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Jacob Bethell did the trick on day three of the second Test. Can he do the same here?
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England have kept plugging away and have come close on a couple of occasions. Indeed they would have dismissed Conway had they discerned a bat-pad lbw close call was in fact a pad-bat one. Conway has made the most of his life to move to the threshold of his eighth Test century.
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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.
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The lefties pick Stokes’ inswingers off for a pair of singles. That’s six overs on the spin in this spell from the captain. Should be his last before lunch.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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Stokes ends his ninth over by angling the ball into Latham and watching it straighten and climb past the edge. Earlier the openers had taken Stokes for two singles and a two into the onside.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Fabulous leg-side take by Smith prevents four byes with a headlong dive. Just the single off the over as Archer, to answer Tim’s question, predominantly keeps a tight length on fourth stump.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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Latham cops a blow but still manages to pull Tongue away for a single as he swivels. It’s the only run off Tongue’s eighth over as he starts to find a more consistent line.
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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.
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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.
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It was snaking past leg stump. England lose a review. He was wide on the crease and also hooped it late.
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Latham lbw Tongue Knocked off his feet by an inswinging yorker but looked to have swung in too much.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Bashir continues. He’s bowling accurately enough, but ultimately it’s a first-day pitch and almost everything is coming off the middle of the bat. How England would love to have won the toss.
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The New Zealand captain Tom Latham reaches an excellent, almost risk-free fifty from 65 balls. He takes a risk of sorts later in the over, deliberately slashing Stokes over the slips for four.
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Conway fails to punish a full toss from Bashir, clattering it back to the bowler on the bounce. England don’t look like taking a wicket. It’s not that they’re bowling terribly, just that the pitch is a heartbreaker.
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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.
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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.
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Standing at the top of the Radcliffe Road stand, as Ben Stokes came on to bowl, I could hear applause that was loud and appreciative. He is still the people’s captain.
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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.
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Latham leans into a flighted delivery from Bashir, timing it carefully through extra cover for a couple. He has played with quiet authority; in fact I can barely recall a false stroke.
Big cheers as Ben Stokes comes on to bowl. Who’s writing his script today?
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Conway tries to work Tongue to leg and gets a leading edge into the off side. Apart from a scruffy first over, Tongue has bowled well on an entirely unhelpful pitch. Five overs might be enough in this heat, though.
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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.
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Latham denies Tongue a third straight maiden by timing his last ball square on the off side for a couple. Still no real signs of a wicket but England have at least slowed New Zealand down: 51 from the first 11 overs, five from the last five.
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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.
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Jacob Bethell now extra cover for Bashir. Joe Root relegated to midwicket after that drive eluded him in the off spinner’s first over.
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Another maiden from Tongue to Latham takes us to the drinks break.
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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.
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Tongue pulls his length back during a better second over, a maiden to Conway. This looks like seriously hard work for the bowlers, with the ball hardly moving sideways at all.
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Runs can really flow at Trent Bridge, because the pitch is true and the outfield is lightning fast. It also has really weird dimensions - it isn’t oval-shaped at all. Jonny Bairstow peppered one short boundary four years ago.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Atkinson moves over the wicket and beats Conway with a length delivery angled across the left-hander. Nicely bowled. England may have to think increasingly outside the box as the day progresses; it looks a superb pitch for batting.
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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.
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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.
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Archer does get a bit of swing from a fuller length, but it’s very wide and Conway is able to reach and clout another boundary through the covers. Good start for New Zealand.
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Another excellent over from Atkinson - until he slips in a half-volley that Conway leathers to the cover boundary. It was worth pitching one up to see if there’s any sideways movement; there is not. The early signs are this is a bed-and-breakfast pitch.
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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.
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Atkinson starts with a very accurate over from round the wicket, making the left-handed openers play at everything. It ends with a muted LBW shout against Conway, who played outside a good delivery that hit him on the thigh. Too high.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Ben Stokes says England would have done the same.
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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.
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It’s not just Matt Henry missing, but Glenn Phillips too! That’s 11 wickets and a century from the Oval out of their side.
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Nasser Hussain not especially impressed with Ben Stokes’s apology yesterday.
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 25, 2026"It's great to have the captain back... you would've probably wanted a bit more of an apology" 😬
Nasser Hussain on Ben Stokes' return ahead of England's series decider against New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/SwP70vpSMx
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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