It contained an inadvertent poke in the eye for his trouble, but the exuberant England celebrations that greeted Jofra Archer’s second new-ball wicket told the story.
If England were to retain hope of winning this third Test on a chameleon of a Nottingham pitch, they needed early breakthroughs and Archer’s dispatching of Devon Conway so soon after the dismissal of fellow first-innings centurion Tom Latham checked New Zealand’s momentum.
An opening two days comprising 661 runs signalled the domination of bat at the start of this enthralling, see-sawing contest, but a change in both atmospheric conditions and the behaviour of a surface breaking up after being sun-baked for 48 hours placed the bowlers firmly on top on day three. And Ben Stokes’ team needed to strike back.
New Zealand closed it on 120 for three, an overall advantage of 204, and with things unlikely to get any easier during a fourth-innings chase, England must now replicate the kind of morning that the tourists themselves enjoyed on Saturday. Any chase in excess of the 299 they knocked off against the Black Caps here four years ago will be extremely challenging.
Thrown the ball on the third evening after England lost their final eight wickets for 131, Archer produced a spell of 5-0-12-2, sent down at much reduced pace, but with deliveries injected by venom upon contact with the widening cracks below.
The 31-year-old did not get above 83 miles per hour in his opening over, but the sixth ball jagged back to pin Latham leg before.
If England are to retain hope of winning this third Test on a chameleon of a Nottingham pitch, they needed early breakthroughs – and Archer has given them hope
New Zealand closed it on 120 for three, an overall advantage of 204, and with things unlikely to get any easier during a fourth-innings chase, England must replicate the tourists’ morning
If there was little the left-hander could do about that, Archer’s third over, the fifth of the innings, proved virtually unplayable. A brute of a ball that changed direction wickedly, struck Conway on the back of the helmet, triggering a seven-minute delay featuring a well-being check and headgear change.
But the respite proved short-lived as the final one took off, flying to Joe Root at second slip, and persuading an England team that began this match by conceding a triple century stand that another comeback was on.
As a throng engulfed Archer, one of Ben Stokes’ fingers provided the eye-watering moment, but the dismissal also provided a clear vision of what was possible with enough deliveries in the right area.
Unfortunately, Josh Tongue has lost his radar since arguably being England’s best bowler in the first Test win at Lord’s, and when he did get it right, Harry Brook failed to respond to a nick that flew between him and wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
The escape of Henry Nicholls on 11 was not a costly one, however, as Brook grabbed an action-replay poke at Gus Atkinson in the next over.
Despite some hairy moments for Daryl Mitchell countering Shoaib Bashir’s impressive evening burst, there were no further breakthroughs, but if England are looking for a fillip they will find it in recalling how disciplined bowling by the tourists turned the game on its head on Saturday morning.
Resuming on 223 for two, England lost both set batsmen for their overnight scores amongst a clatter of three for 10 in opening half hour.
It was a highly impressive effort from a New Zealand attack missing its most dynamic components in Matt Henry, the 11-wicket man of the match in the second Test at the Oval, and the gigantic Kyle Jamieson. Neither were considered to be fit enough to play here and to add to their problems, Blair Tickner, one of the reinforcements, was ruled out with concussion.
In their absence, a Nathan Smith surge overtook Henry to become the leading wicket taker in the series, starting by nipping one back viciously to Joe Root.
Earlier in the day, a Nathan Smith surge overtook Henry to become the leading wicket taker in the series, starting by nipping one back viciously to Joe Root
Stokes appeared to have found fluency with 95 for Durham against Northamptonshire last weekend, but there was little he could do about an unplayable delivery by Foulkes
In the belief that the ball was going on to miss leg stump, Root reviewed, but for the third time in a row, he was dismissed leg before to a delivery sent with wicketkeeper Tom Blundell stood up, and trudged forlornly back to the temporary changing rooms at Trent Bridge in the knowledge it was the third occasion this series that he has been victim to an umpire’s call.
The lavish seam movement extracted early on was a sign of things to come and Jacob Bethell became the second wicket in the space of six deliveries when his hands were lured from his body by Will O’Rourke and the angle of the delivery took it into the grasp of Latham at second slip.
From there, only Harry Brook with a 66-ball half century got to grips with the situation as Nathan Smith and Zak Foulkes, the concussion replacement for Tickner, ran amok.
Jamie Smith squeezed out the third morning’s first run off the bat his stay was also short-lived as New Zealand, who started bowling a minute early, had their third wicket at 11.31am through a low edge to Daryl Mitchell, which replays confirmed was pouched comfortably above the grass.
Two consecutive Brook boundaries in Smith’s next over – a clip off the pads and a guide through backward point – represented a brief break from the domination of England’s batsmen.
Stokes appeared to have found fluency with 95 for Durham against Northamptonshire last weekend, but there was little he could do about an unplayable delivery sent down from round the wicket by Foulkes that defeated a crabby defensive push.
Brook was also victim of a Foulkes delivery that re-routed on its way to the stumps, while Jofra Archer was undone by huge deviation and extra bounce from Smith.
Not for the first time this month, Atkinson was arguably out later than he should have been. Somehow dropped by Ben Sears from a dolly offered to mid-on on 22, he eventually fell in a sequence of three wickets for four runs to the second new ball.
