Key events
65th over: New Zealand 195-4 (Mitchell 49, Blundell 9) Blundell gets his first boundary with an angled poke wide of point. England have seen so much of this pair batting in the last few years, this must be up there with the most painful of those many passages of play.
64th over: New Zealand 190-4 (Mitchell 49, Blundell 4) Just a single to Blundell off Stokes. New Zealand’s run rate is only just above 2.4 rpo this innings. It’s been a slow, griping death of a day for England so far.
63rd over: New Zealand 189-4 (Mitchell 49, Blundell 3) Archer keeps Mitchell honest with a maiden, another ball scuttles low but England aren’t getting any breaks at the moment.
62nd over: New Zealand 189-4 (Mitchell 49, Blundell 3) How did that miss!? Stokes sends down a length ball and it just dies in the surface, Blundell tries to poke at it desperately but there’s nothing he can do about it at all as it seems to shave the outside of off stump. That is not a good sign for England who have to bat last on this surface. New Zealand’s lead is up to 273.
61st over: New Zealand 184-4 (Mitchell 47, Blundell 3) More pain for England after the interval as Blundell squirts an edge away off Archer for three runs to get off the mark. Stokes is going to bowl from the Radcliffe Road End, can he find a magic spell?
The players return to the middle in bright sunshine, apologies for the lack of updates during the lunch interval, I was collared by Daniel Norcross to talk cricket books on Test Match Special. La-di-dah.
Jofra Archer is going to start us off after lunch from the Stuart Broad End, England need some wickets pronto, otherwise things might get a wee bit grim. Laurence Booth and Nick Hoult penning an elegiac appendices to their Bazball book as we speak?
Lunch – New Zealand 180-4, lead by 264 runs.
Atkinson finishes the final over before lunch, England are clinging on at Trent Bridge. Big afternoon session incoming.
59th over: New Zealand 180-4 (Mitchell 46, Blundell) Bashir celebrated that wicket with real gusto, a double fist pump and roar to the heavens. Blundell joins Mitchell on the stroke of lunch.
WICKET!!! Rachin Ravindra lbw b Shoaib Bashir 94 (New Zealand 180-4)
Shoaib Bashir gets the breakthrough! Scudding one on to Rachin Ravindra who is deep in the crease and pinned bang in front. He reviews more in hope than expectation and it is three big reds on the review. He has to go six runs short of a century but it has still been a brilliant innings and potentially a match winning one for his side.
58th over: New Zealand 178-3 (Ravindra 93, Mitchell 46) That hurts even more. Atkinson slides one down the leg side and gives Jamie Smith no chance, four byes to the score, New Zealand’s lead stretches to 263, that’s a lot on this wicket.
57th over: New Zealand 174-3 (Ravindra 93, Mitchell 46) Ravindra moves into the 90s with a whipcrack flick off his pads for four, the ball timed to within an inch of its life. An edge along the ground through the vacant second region hurts England still further.
56th over: New Zealand 164-3 (Ravindra 83, Mitchell 46) The crowd clap and cheer, willing England to get the wicket. Oh that hurts! An edge from Ravindra doesn’t carry but rather scuttles through to Jamie Smith. The lead
55th over: New Zealand 163-3 (Ravindra 82, Mitchell 46) Joe Root gets the crowd ooohing and ahhing with some exuberant clapping and even some aeroplane wings as Tongue runs in. England trying everything to get the breakthrough. Ravindra blocks it all out and taps into the leg side for a single.
54th over: New Zealand 162-3 (Ravindra 81, Mitchell 46) Atkinson in the groove, just a single glided away by Ravindra who moves into the eighties. This has been some knock from the curly haired strokemaker.
53rd over: New Zealand 161-3 (Ravindra 80, Mitchell 46) Tongue thunders in from the Stuey B End with his wardrobe shoulders and piston knees. Mitchell pulls out of his stance a couple of times in the over as someone is moving behind the bowler’s arm… I’m not casting nasturtiums but I do know that Timbo, Lester, Cupsies, Margate Pete and The Bear are sat somewhere near there. You tell me.
Ravindra whips a couple off his toes into the leg side. England’s nose getting perilously close to the dirt here at Trent Bridge.
52nd over: New Zealand 158-3 (Ravindra 78, Mitchell 46) No need for any semaphore from Southee, Stokes takes his leave and Gus Atkinson comes on for a spell. Atkinson is accurate, landing it on a pocket square on the line of off stump. Mitchell gets his head down and blocks out a maiden.
51st over: New Zealand 158-3 (Ravindra 78, Mitchell 46) “Ali G? Dunno” writes Frank Stark “…but Mitchell seems to be working on his moves with a kind of circular crab dance to go with the Steve Smith semaphore each time he turns down a run.”
Mitchell is really knuckling down here, there is an almost performative nature to his defence at the moment but he is a very dangerous player and if he decides to open the shoulders could take this game well out of England’s reach in no time at all. Gulp.
Sure enough, as I type, Mitchell gets on the front foot and drives powerfully through cover for four. Gulp indeed.
50th over: New Zealand 152-3 (Ravindra 77, Mitchell 41) Stokes into his 8th over… will we see Tim Southee come out of the England dressing room and tell him ‘enough now Benjamin’ a la Lord’s v India last year?
49th over: New Zealand 151-3 (Ravindra 76, Mitchell 41) Mitchell plays Tongue with an angled bat and it flies away wide of the solitary slip for a welcome New Zealand boundary. England are clinging on to this match, the lead is up to 235, realistically they need cause a collapse in the next hour or so but Mitchell and Ravindra are batting with steely resolution. The boundary brings up the hundred partnership for the Kiwis, they were 12-2 and 51-3 remember. Top effort from this pair, proper criggit.
48th over: New Zealand 146-3 (Ravindra 75, Mitchell 37) Stokes into his seventh over of this spell, he will not want to give the ball to someone else without a wicket to show for his efforts but he might well have to. Just a single to Ravindra clipped into the leg side and that’s the first hour done. It belongs to New Zealand although they have only added 26 runs so haven’t damaged England too much.
47th over: New Zealand 145-3 (Ravindra 74, Mitchell 37) A loud groan rattles round Trent Bridge as Mitchell edges a length ball from Tongue through a vacant second slip. In the early days of his captaincy tenure Stokes would have had a man in there, definitely. In this essay I will…
46th over: New Zealand 141-3 (Ravindra 74, Mitchell 33) Stokes is full, zeroing in on the stumps and front pad but Mitchell is up to the task. He clips off his hip for a single and Ravindra blocks out the rest. Archer is going to have a rest, here comes Josh Tongue.
45th over: New Zealand 140-3 (Ravindra 74, Mitchell 32) Shot! Another satisfying sonic boom off the blade of Ravindra as he middles a whip off his pads for four off a disgruntled Archer. England are desperate for a wicket but it ain’t happening for them out there at the moment.
44th over: New Zealand 134-3 (Ravindra 69, Mitchell 31) Smith remains up to the stumps to Stokes, the pitch is now starting to go up and down and the keeper ends up wearing one on the helmet to a ball that spits off a length like an angry camel. A single to Ravindra through midwicket. This pair have done really well to not give England a sniff so far this morning and they’ve eked the lead up to 218 runs, a fourth innings run chase looks to be getting more challenging with every passing minute.
43rd over: New Zealand 133-3 (Ravindra 68, Mitchell 31) Another maiden from Archer as the the sun begins to peep out at Trent Bridge.
42nd over: New Zealand 133-3 (Ravindra 68, Mitchell 31) Shot! Ravindra slaps a short ball from Stokes to the boundary with a flourish. His bat sounds incredible.
“The heat is on McCullum and Key and I understand why” writes an empathetic Steve Hudson.
“Mistakes have been made, especially in the last 12 months. And coaches do have a shelf life and maybe Baz has reached the end of his. I do think that people forget very quickly how dreadful England looked in the few years running up to his appointment, and how brilliant, how exhilarating were the performances once he took over. For two years they were just about the most entertaining and successful England team I’ve ever seen. Please let’s remember the good times when we wish him away.”
41st over: New Zealand 127-3 (Ravindra 63, Mitchell 30) Archer is probing but there’s no breakthrough for England in the first half hour of play, Mitchell sees out a maiden.
John Starbuck twists the knife…
“Going by your Preamble, it appears that The Guardian doesn’t impose a curfew on OBO-writers’ drinking… yet.”
40th over: New Zealand 127-3 (Ravindra 63, Mitchell 30) Jamie Smith calls for the helmet and comes up to the stumps to Stokes. Ouch! Stokes gets one to lift sharply and it prangs Mitchell on the elbow. That’s gonna hurt. The magic spray is run out and there’s a brief delay. Stokes is bowling at 86mph so Smith is going to need his wits about him. Mitchell takes a quick single into the leg side, good batting.
39th over: New Zealand 125-3 (Ravindra 62, Mitchell 29) Archer from the Stuart Broad End, he’s up to the mid to high eighties on the speed gun and gets a nasty ball to lift and smash Mitchell on the hand. The batter wrings it out and briefly resembles Ali G as he does so. Mitchell drops into the leg side and gets off strike. Ravindra clips off his hip to make it two singles off the over.
How’s everyone doing out there? England need wickets…
38th over: New Zealand 123-3 (Ravindra 61, Mitchell 28) Stokes is over the wicket to Ravindra, Trent Bridge shrouded in cloud and it is mercifully cooler than the last few days. A decent morning for bowling you’d think. Ravindra is watchful and Stokes peels off an accurate maiden.
Daryl Accone comes out playing his Sunday morning shots:
“Andy Bull’s piece asks whether the England and Wales Cricket Board can afford to fire McCullum given the compensation in his contract of £1-million or thereabouts. More pertinent is whether the board can afford not to sack him. Never in the field of Test cricket have so many owed so much pain to so few; indeed, to one person. Neither Puff the Magic Dragon nor Harry Potter, Baz rather should go down in the annals of coaching as a poor simulacrum of Ted Lasso.”
37th over: New Zealand 123-3 (Ravindra 61, Mitchell 28) Archer pins Daryl Mitchell on the crease and England go up en masse… Given out! Mitchell consults Ravindra and then calls for the review. It hits him above the knee roll and is GOING OVER the top by an inch. Decision overturned on DRS and Daryl Mitchell does not his his joy/relief. Have we ever seen a player celebrate a DRS call in such a way? Archer beats him outside off stump to complete a good first over. England thought they had the early wicket but not yet, not yet.
36th over: New Zealand 122-3 (Ravindra 60, Mitchell 28) Stokes beats Daryl Mitchell with a full ball outside off stump that jags away late. Ooosht! That kept low! A ball of similar length then squirts a few inches off the ground after pitching, we might well see some more misbehaviour from this wicket today. Mitchell collects two runs through the covers and that’s the first over. Here comes Jofra Archer.
Ben Stokes is going to start with the ball for England, cometh the BIG FIRST HOUR…
The players head out to the middle the the strains of Jerusalem. No hangovers out there… you’d hope (!) A fair few bleary eyed folk shuffling around the ground though, which made me feel a lot better about myself.
Andy Bull laments England’s current situation:
Simon Burnton dipped his quill on Kiwi super sub Zak Foulkes:
We’ve got about five minutes until the start of play, just enough time to catch up on yesterday’s action. It was New Zealand’s day, that’s for sure:
Rachin Ravindra looked in ominously good form yesterday, particularly at the start of his innings where he hit some pristine strokes to wrestle any momentum back from England.
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to day four of the deciding Test between England and New Zealand from Trent Bridge. It’s balmy and bright, the players are on the outfield going through their motions. I’m in the press box going through my emotions. Am I late starting this blog because I’m a wee bit dusty this morning. I couldn’t possible comment… but any typos are entirely deliberate, it’s all part of the process.
New Zealand lead by 204 runs with seven second innings wickets in hand.
It’s been said before but… BIG FIRST HOUR this morning*.
Please do get in touch, it would be nice to have some help you on board for what is a very big day in English cricket.
*For all of us