Key events
38th over: England 160-4 (Root 64, Rew 8)
37th over: England 157-4 (Root 62, Rew 7) Nathan Smith replaces Matt Henry, who has earned an ice bath and maybe even a Gatorade chaser. In this game, Henry’s record against an otherwise rampant Brook is extraordinary
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19 balls
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4 runs
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2 wickets
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0 boundaries
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21.1 strike rate
Meanwhile, James Rew gets his first boundary with a polished clip through midwicket.
36th over: England 150-4 (Root 60, Rew 2) Rourke continues to attack Rew from over the wicket. Rew leaves when he can, defends when he has to, all the while looking pretty composed. A maiden.
The thought of facing Will O’Rourke on a bouncy pitch on Test debut, especially when you’re only 22 years old, is mildly chilling.
35th over: England 150-4 (Root 60, Rew 2) Root and Rew, Roo and Rewt. It’s Joe on strike against Henry, who slips a loose delivery down the leg side for four byes. Everything else is where it should be, forcing Root to defend with his usual excellence.
Henry’s spell of 6-3-10-1 has been a beauty, not least because Harry Brook was going at 100mph when he came on.
34th over: England 146-4 (Root 60, Rew 2) You don’t need Mensa membership to know how O’Rourke is going to attack James Rew. One of many short or shortish deliveries hit Rew on the side and flies away for four leg-byes.
33rd over: England 139-4 (Root 57, Rew 2) I feel like we publish this Matt Henry stat once an innings but it bears repeating. In the first six years of his Test career he averaged 51.54 from 13 Tests. What a loser! Since then, across a five-year period, he has 116 wickets in 22 Tests at 20.31 apiece. Sir Richard Hadlee, Glenn McGrath and Malcolm Marshall would be happy with those numbers. Jasprit Bumrah might even be mildly satisfied.
WICKET! England 137-4 (Brook c Mitchell b Henry 58)
Matt Henry is an absolute champion! First he slowed England down; now he’s made a crucial breakthrough. Brook pushed defensively at another immaculate delivery that took the edge. The ball deflected off the gloves of Blundell, standing up to the stumps, and was smartly caught by Mitchell at slip.
Brook goes for a spectacular 58 from 54 balls.
“In almost every era, there’s an English batter whose failures are ascribed an almost moral dimension,” says Phil Harrison. “There was Gower (too casual). Pietersen (too flash, too South African). Now, there’s Brook. People struggle to understand that he doesn’t play like this to show off; he plays like this because it works. People show both their ignorance and their lack of imagination.”
‘An almost moral dimension’ is spot on. The only bit I’d question is the ‘almost’. I can see both sides of the argument, but I really struggle to understand the extent of the hatred that a minority of England fans have for Brook. But I also find it a tricky subject to grasp, in part because I know I’ve written some awful, hateful crap over the years. I also have a bad feeling a twentysomething Smyth would be calling Brook all sorts.
32nd over: England 137-3 (Root 57, Brook 58) O’Rourke returns to the attack, starting with a maiden to Root. With that, the players take drinks.
It’s been a session of two halves so fars:
Many reasons for that, but the main one is the excellence of Matt Henry.
31st over: England 137-3 (Root 57, Brook 58) Sorry, been distracted by emails for the last few overs. Nothing much is happening; just three singles from that last Henry over.
30th over: England 134-3 (Root 55, Brook 57) “I hope this isn’t giving England, and Brook in particular, the kiss of death,” begins Will Juba, “but I wonder how much the previous Bazball run-chases might be playing into New Zealand’s bowling. If not now (they’re bowling pretty well atm, just being relentlessly attacked), then it might do, should this partnership go on for, say, another 75-100 runs.
“It’s probably too far to go for England, but NZ must remember the summer of 2022 and so maybe, just maybe, if Brook and Root can stay in a bit longer they might start to panic even with a lead this big? “Yes, yes, I’m clutching at straws I know. But…maybe…???”
With so many runs to defend, I suspect the only thing that could give New Zealand the fear would be the sight of Jonathan Marc Bairstow bristling out to the middle, whirling his arms while shouting: “You tell Jessop I’m coming! You tell him I’m [swearword] comingggggggg!”
Man, I miss Jonny. He’s so underrated, too, especially as a white-ball player.
29th over: England 130-3 (Root 54, Brook 54) England are still 333 runs short of victory, so this remains a fun partnership on its own terms rather than anything more profound.
“So,” writes Simon McMahon. “Arsenal champions of England, Scotland losing to Morocco in the World Cup, and England heading to Trent Bridge needing a win. Tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1998.”
Oh that’s good. But how the hell did you know I was listening to B*Witched this morning?
England review! Brook not out 53
In the first innings, Matt Henry dismissed Root and Brook in quick succession. He’s done the same in the second – but both decisions have been overturned. Like Root, Brook reviewed straight away after being given out LBW, knowing he’s got a late inside edge onto the pad.
Fifty for Joe Root
28th over: England 124-3 (Root 51, Brook 53) Root opens the face to glide Jamieson for four, a delightful shot that brings up his first fifty of the series and his 67th in Tests. I almost don’t want him to get a hundred, because if he pulls out the Thorpey headband again I’ll dissolve in tears.
27th over: England 120-3 (Root 46, Brook 52) Matt Henry has a kind of passive-aggressive approach to Root. Passive because he’s focussing primarily on accuracy; aggressive because everything is on target, demanding a defensive stroke. Root is up to the task in that over, with a maiden the almost inevitable result.
26th over: England 120-3 (Root 46, Brook 52) “It may be in a losing cause but it’s fun and heart-warming to see Root caress his way and Brook bludgeon his way to significant innings that send out a signal to the Kiwis ahead of the third Test,” says Colum Fordham. “ We’re being treated to some fine and improbable shots.”
Brook’s approach, in particular, also increases England’s chance of winning. That increase might only be from 1% to 2.5%*, but what’s not to love about a marginal gain, especially when it’s this entertaining.
* Figures may not be entirely accurate as they’ve been pulled from a nearby derriere
25th over: England 118-3 (Root 45, Brook 51) Root and Henry, two poster boys for any Nice Guys Finish First movement, have a good-natured chat about the wicket that wasn’t.
“I think with Brook that it’s not necessarily hate,” says Andy Flintoff, “but, much like Botham’s feats of heroics, he might come to expect it to happen every time he’s batting, leading him into poor shot selection. It’s obvious he has the talent, though.”
Thanks for explaining that to me.
WICKET! Durham 183-4 (Stokes b Conway 95)
Ben Stokes wrote his own script, but some bugger called Harry Conway tweaked the ending.
Root is not out!
Correction: Root knows he’s inside-edged it. It was a lovely nipbacker, the first of a new spell from Henry, and Root would have been plumb withoutthat little touch.
England review! Root LBW b Henry 44
Root thinks he’s inside-edged it.
Brook hits 33-ball fifty!
24th over: England 116-3 (Root 44, Brook 51) Thoughts and prayers at this time difficult time with those who hate Harry Brook. He’s putting on another madcap masterclass at the Oval and has raced to a stunning half-century in just 33 balls.
There were three more boundaries in that Jamieson over: a thick edge past backward point, a violation over mid-off and a deliberate steer past the slips.
23rd over: England 103-3 (Root 43, Brook 39) Brook cuffs a short ball from Smith over midwicket for four to move to 38 from 25 balls. This is reminscent of his coruscating counter-attack on this ground a year ago, although on that occasion England were 106 for 3 chasing 374 to beat India when he arrived.
In this game it was – yikes – 40 for 3 chasing 463. Same principle, though: the only one to win is to put so much pressure on the bowlers that they lose any or all of the following: length, line, rag, noggin.
22nd over: England 97-3 (Root 42, Brook 34) Jamieson, back on for O’Rourke, restores some order with a maiden to Root.
“Hullo Rob,” says Felix Wood. “Greetings from ‘the way’ – walking the camino offers hours of contemplation whilst walking from town to town, 25 km today, which allowed me to avoid at least the first session and a half of the cricket. What this Test has reminded me is how much I disliked the Root as captain period – long stretches of bowling to no plan, no accountability in the batting, and perhaps worst of all robbing us of enjoying Root as a batsman. He’d probably have 600 or so more runs as well. So thanks for stepping up, Joe, but for all our sakes put the blazer away again.”
I agree he’s a limited captain, but I’d say your email is a wee bit harsh based on three days with a ragtag team. Also, while he has been a better player overall in the ranks, his greatest batting came when he was captain in 2021 and the world was collapsing around him.
21st over: England 97-3 (Root 42, Brook 34) The ball needs to be replaced, presumably because it’s been battered out of shape in the last few overs. New Zealand carefully chose a replacement ball – and Brook dumps it straight over midwicket for six, first ball after the resumption. Disgraceful genius.
In other news, Ben Stokes is 95 not out at Chester-le-Street. Every cloud, my son.
20th over: England 88-3 (Root 39, Brook 28) There’s a proud history of “oh-bugger-it batting”at the Oval. I’m quietly confident Root and Brook have never used the phrase in their lives, but there’s an element of oh-bugger-it about their batting since tea.
Root has just hit O’Rourke for three boundaries in an over, all played deliberately behind square on the off side. The third was a deft, almost carefree uppercut over the slips.
The first over of the evening session was a maiden; the next three have disappeared for 34.
19th over: England 75-3 (Root 25, Brook 18) Two more boundaries to Brook via a pull and a back-foot steer off Smith. He has 28 from 20 balls and might reasonably be described as being on one.
“A random thought with it being Father’s Day tomorrow,” writes James Brough. “My dad bought The Guardian every day since years before I was born. I think he’d have been quietly rather pleased at me getting the odd mention…”
18th over: England 64-3 (Root 25, Brook 18) Brook hits two boundaries off O’Rourke, a push through mid-on and a magnificent, high-handed pull stroke.
17th over: England 54-3 (Root 24, Brook 9) Nathan Smith starts after tea with a maiden to Root.
Tea: England need a further 409 runs to win
New Zealand would have taken one wicket in that mini-session; they got three and are going to win at a canter, possibly tonight.
16th over: England 54-3 (Root 24, Brook 9) It’s quite a good day for bowling, much cooler than yesterday. It feels like New Zealand have had the better of conditions in this match, even though they lost the toss.
They’ve been so superior that it has had no impact on the result; it’s just an interesting vagary of cricket that you can lose the toss and have the best of conditions. A similar thing happened at Lord’s.
A rare poor ball from O’Rourke – short, wide and with ‘hit me’ stuck to its back – is belted to the point boundary by Root. That’s tea.
“‘A blaze of gory’?” says John Starbuck. “Well done. Mind you, when listening to commentary I can’t help hearing O’Rourke’s name as ‘Willow’, positioning him as a supporting player in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
15th over: England 49-3 (Root 19, Brook 9) Blundell is up to the stumps when Smith is bowling to either Roor or Brook. This tactic, used to quietly devastating effect by Alex Carey in the Ashes, is fast becoming England’s Krpytonite.
The moment I type that, Brook stands in his crease and larrups Smith to the cover boundary. Because he can, because he’s a genius.
14th over: England 45-3 (Root 19, Brook 5) A typically quiet start to Harry Brook’s innings.
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First ball Nasty lifter from O’Rourke, fended away
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Second ball Loose drive, beaten outside off
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Third ball Steered expertly for four
Meanwhile, a sensational stat from Benedit Bermange of Sky Sports: Joe Root has scored 3,573 of his Test runs behind square on the off side. That’s fractionally over 25%, and most of them were deliberately.
OBO legend Tanya Aldred, who is at Durham watching one of England’s greatest-ever cricketers play for his county while England are in action 250 miles away, has just popped up in Google Chat.
Stokes is looking majestic btw
At the risk of getting carried away, I’ll cry my eyes out if he returns at Trent Bridge next week and makes a 53-ball century.
WICKET! England 40-3 (Duckett c Henry b O’Rourke 9)
Ben Duckett’s lean trot continues with an ugly dismissal. He tried to swat a bouncer from O’Rourke and somehow managed to toe-end it gently to mid-off. England are going down in a blaze of gory.
13th over: England 40-2 (Duckett 9, Root 19) Nathan Smith starts his spell with a nasty lifter to Duckett that takes the shoulder of the bat and loops to safety on the off side. Smith is such a good bowler – such a good cricketer – and would be a strong contender for an XI of players who were born underrated.
No chance of Root ever making that team. He hits – no, persuades – two high-class boundaries behind square on the off side.
12th over: England 31-2 (Duckett 8, Root 11) O’Rourke replaces Jamieson, who bowled a terrific spell of 5-1-10-2. Root bends his back to cut the first ball emphatically for four, but he has a scare later in the over when a defensive shot bounces back over the stumps. Root tries to swish it away and missed. But, as Mike Atherton says on Sky, the main thing is that he didn’t do a Goochie.
“Call me Nostradamus,” writes James Brough. “My prediction – England lose in four days. Stokes returns as captain for the next Test after someone points out a misprint in the curfew regulations saying players have to be in bed by 12 noon, rather than midnight.”
Ben Stokes has made a rapid half-century, his first in 2026, for Durham against Northants. Every bloody cloud, my son, every blood cloud.