England need 463 to beat New Zealand: second men’s Test, day four - live

Key events

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.

Share

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.”

Share

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.

Share

14th over: England 45-3 (Root 19, Brook 5) A typically quiet start to Harry Brook’s innings.

First ball Nasty lifter from O’Rourke, fended away

Second ball Loose drive, beaten outside off

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.

Share

Updated at 10.36 EDT

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.

double quotation markStokes 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.

Share

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.

Share

Updated at 10.33 EDT

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.

Share

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.”

Share

Ben Stokes has made a rapid half-century, his first in 2026, for Durham against Northants. Every bloody cloud, my son, every blood cloud.

Share

11th over: England 25-2 (Duckett 7, Root 6) Blundell is up to the stumps for Root, who looks uncomfortable as a result. Henry is bowling wicket to wicket, with a bit of nip, and has an LBW appeal caught in the throat when Root gets a late inside-edge onto the pad. That would have been really close.

Share

10th over: England 22-2 (Duckett 7, Root 3) Duckett’s strike-rate has gone 144 in the first innings to 30 in the second, and I say that as a compliment. He’s battling hard and showing good defensive technique. If and when he ends this irritating trot of nothing scores, someone is going to pay.

“Rooooooooooooot,” says James Brough. “How many of those 14,000 Test runs do we reckon were guided to third man or flicked to midwicket? And do we think he’ll manage to pass Sachin and become the first to 16,000?”

Only a dodgy back or the apocalypse can stop him.

Share

Updated at 10.25 EDT

8th over: England 20-2 (Duckett 5, Root 3) A maiden from Henry to Root. For all the weirdness of the series so far, it’s set up a for a cracking series decider at Trent Bridge next week. England last true series decider on home soil was against South Africa in 2022.

Share

8th over: England 20-2 (Duckett 5, Root 3) Another menacing over form Jamieson, who is bowling his best spell of the series to date.

Share

Root is not out

Indeed it was, by quite a way, so New Zealand lose a review.

Share

New Zealand review for LBW against Root!

No shot offered but I reckon it’s missing off.

Share

Updated at 10.02 EDT

Root passes 14,000 Test runs

7th over: England 19-2 (Duckett 5, Root 2) Thanks Tim, hello everyone. Sorry for the missing sixth over – I’m running late due to a bus cancellation, but I’m here tell you that Joe Root has just taken a quick single off Matt Henry. It’s also his 14,000th Test run. Fourteen large!

Root is only the second man to reach that milestone after Sachin Tendulkar. It alls tarted in Nagpur in December 2012, when an even fresher-faced Root walked out to meet Kevin Pietersen for his first Test innings.

double quotation markHe walked out with a smile on his face, and went, ‘All right lad, you okay, you’re playing well there.’ And I was like, ‘Mate! I’ve played 90-odd Test matches and I don’t walk out like that.’ But it’s brilliant for English cricket, absolutely brilliant.

Share

Updated at 10.06 EDT

5th over: England 17-2 (Duckett 5, Root 0) Two wickets in one over for Kyle Jamieson, who has already bounced back from a bad day and a bit in the first innings. At the other end, Henry beats the bat of Duckett again. When he goes full, Duckett does connect but can’t time his drive. He finally finds his touch with a shovel pull that races across the dry old pitches on this enormous square.

And Root needs two to be the first Englishman to reach 14,000 runs in Tests. In fact the first man from anywhere whose name is not Sachin. That moment, if it comes, will be covered by your friend and mine, Rob Smyth. Thanks for your correspondence and I’ll hope to see you for France v iraq on Monday night.

Share

Updated at 09.50 EDT

WICKET! Bethell LBW b Jamieson 0 (England 13-2)

One brings two! A full ball, swinging in, and not even England’s master of the second dig can keep it out. So Bethell fails in both innings here, though he did bowl well, and poor Joe Root has to come in half an hour after a long stint changing the field.

Share

Updated at 09.48 EDT

WICKET! Gay c Ravindra b Jamieson 11 (England 13-1)

Nooo! Two bizarre things have just happened. Emilio Gay has put a low price on his wicket by clipping straight to the man at short midwicket. And that man is Rachin Ravindra, who, as Nasser Hussain says, couldn’t catch a cold at Lord’s.

Share

Updated at 09.44 EDT

3rd over: England 13-0 (Duckett 1, Gay 11) England could do with a stroke of some authority. And here it is from Emilio Gay, facing Henry, reading the length well and playing a force through the covers for four. Except that it’s not at all forced – it’s more of a glide. So that’s 13 down, just another 450 to go.

Share

2nd over: England 8-0 (Duckett 1, Gay 6) Gay, facing Kyle Jamieson, gets another nick but does well to keep it down and collects his reward with a four through the gap at third or fourth slip.

A question for Tom Latham: if you don’t have a third slip on a seaming track at the Oval with 460 runs in the bank, when do you?

Share

Updated at 09.33 EDT

1st over: England 2-0 (Duckett 1, Gay 1) Matt Henry has the new ball and England are flirting with disaster! The first ball is wide outside off and ben Duckett has a tentative nibble, a nothing shot that could only have brought four off the edge. There is a nick off the last ball as Gay plays a more reasonable shot, trying to protect his off stump.

Tom Blundell is standing back for the moment, perhaps reserving the claustrophobia for Root and Brook, who both succumbed to it in the first innings. And perhaps wondering if this game will go to five days.

Share

And here’s Rob Smyth, with the facts we need at this moment. “The last time England batted even a single ball in the fourth innings of a drawn Test was at Sydney in 2021-22,” he notes. “That’s one of only two Tests they’ve drawn batting last since 2015. The other was the game v NZ in 2021 when Root was criticised for not chasing a tempting target.

“The last time they batted 120+ overs to save a Test was Auckland in 2012-13 – 143 overs, Prior hundred, Monty swimming to make his ground.” Ha.

Rob also said “please don’t give me a credit,” but as he always dishes it out, he’s just going to have to take it.

Share

The latest email is entitled The Fisher King. Very Guardian. “Afternoon Tim, afternoon everyone,” says Guy Hornsby. “This is a much improved effort from the England attack, especially Fisher after lunch. As disappointing as we’ve been – in parts – in this Test, what you want to see is progression, so it’s been heartening to see Fisher and Baker get their lines and lengths better today, as much to ensure we don’t have to overbowl Jofra, too. These may be semi-declaration wickets, but that won’t matter to them. These little moments can have larger ripples, you’d hope.”

Amen to that, though, if Stokes, Atkinson and Robinson return, as expected, we won’t be seeing either Fisher or Baker in the next Test, unless Fisher gets the nod for his batting.

Share

NZ 362 all out!

WICKET! Henry c Duckett b Baker 1 Another top edge, and that is that! New Zealand didn’t declare but they did rather give up, as they can well afford to. England’s task is daunting but straightforward: they have to get 463 to win the series, or survive for nearly five sessions to make sure they can’t lose it. Maybe, for his next trick, Root will bring back the rearguard action.

Share

WICKET! Smith c Gay b Fisher 38 (NZ 362-9)

87th over: New Zealand 362-9 (Henry 1) Fisher has another one as Smith gets his next big hit all wrong, sending a top edge up towards the Shard and seeing it land in the safe hands of Emilio Gay. That was a good knock, though: Smith, who faced 51 balls, scored faster than Henry Nicholls or Daryl Mitchell and almost as fast as Rachin Ravindra.

Share

Updated at 09.23 EDT

Meanwhile, in Chester-le-Street… Ben Stokes found himself coming in to bat with Durham 30-3, after Northants were all out for 450 (Stokes 1-80). He danced down the track as if the big night out had never happened, smashed a four, and now has 12 off 11 balls from three scoring shots. You can keep an eye on his progress with Tanya Aldred, the queen of the county scene.

Share

Updated at 09.18 EDT

86th over: New Zealand 360-8 (Smith 37, Henry 0) The role of Phillips, bossing the tail, is being taken by Nathan Smith – a less accomplished batsman but just as determined. Facing Baker, he whips a lifter for four, then swings a pull to deep square, where Jofra Archer drops a difficult catch, diving forwards. It was brave of him to try.

Share

WICKET! Jamieson b Fisher 6 (NZ 355-8)

85th over: New Zealand 355-8 (Smith 32) England will be relieved not to see Glenn Phillips marshalling the tail, for the first time in this series. Jamieson has given them some grief too, but he struggles now against Fisher’s outswing. He plays and misses once, twice, three times, four times in the over. Then he whacks a length ball back over the bowler’ head, but Fisher, stung, has the perfect retort: a lovely outswinger which flattens the middle stump. In fact, shatters it!

Share

Updated at 09.07 EDT

84th over: New Zealand 351-7 (Smith 32, Jamieson 2) Root, so full of surprises as a stand-in captain, hands the new ball to Sonny Baker. He uses it to beat Smith’s attempt at an expansive hook, and manages his first maiden of this innings.

Share

83rd over: New Zealand 351-7 (Smith 32, Jamieson 2) Mitchell went down on one knee, tried to flick the ball over his left shoulder like a pinch of salt, missed it and saw his off bail go for a walk. That’s the end of a fine innings and also the end of the old ball, as Joe Root has called for the new one. Kyle Jamieson, more dangerous with the bat than the ball in this game so far, gets off the mark with a swish for two.

Share

WICKET! Mitchell b Fisher 68 (NZ 349-7)

Daryl Mitchell risks a ramp and instantly regrets it!

Share

Updated at 08.55 EDT

82nd over: New Zealand 349-6 (Mitchell 68, Smith 32) Time for the new ball, then! But hang on – it’s Jacob Bethell. What the hell? The batters, possibly surprised to be still at the buffet, help themselves to four singles.

Share

Meanwhile, on the south coast, Australia ‘s women have beaten the Netherlands. It’s not official yet but it is inevitable, barring earthquakes or a flurry of wides. Babette de Leede has reached 50 and her team have shown that they can keep the Aussie bowlers at bay, but they now need 111 runs off two overs, which seems unlikely.

Share

Back to the captaincy. “England dropping Stokes,” says Niall Mullen, “reminds me of an absentee father erratically laying the law down having paid no attention to his kids for months on end. Sure, it feels like the right thing in the moment but, without follow through on the actual day to day issues, the kids will continue to fail to thrive and actually view the father with even less respect.”

Share

A modest proposal

“I share many of the thoughts being expressed about the ECB,” says Kim Thonger. “We do seem to be in a proper pickle. Is it worth experimenting with trial replacement of the entire management team with Perplexity Max?

“It’s £200 a month so obviously a clear financial case, but its ability to analyse extremely complex problems in nanoseconds and deliver holistic solutions in minutes, would surely improve matters. I pay for and use it myself for almost everything I do these days. It not perfect but it’s considerably closer to perfection than the ECB.

“It didn’t write this by the way, the grammar and syntax would have been better if it had.”

Share

Updated at 08.26 EDT

Lunch: NZ finding it too easy

81st over: New Zealand 345-6 (Mitchell 66, Smith 30) Root keeps Fisher on, but decides not to take the new ball right away. “And the reason for that,” says Stuart Broad, “would be…?”

“Dunno” says Mark Butcher. “At a loss! If you weren’t going to take it, Joe Root might as well have bowled these two overs himself.”

James Rew, standing up to the stumps, Blundell-style, makes a good sharp take down the leg side. But he may be alarmed to see Fisher bowl a bouncer, which Smith hooks for an effortless four. It’s not the only four in town as New Zealand lead by 445. England won the first hour, bowling much better, but NZ have won the second – and they didn’t even need to.

Share

Updated at 08.06 EDT

80th over: New Zealand 340-6 (Mitchell 66, Smith 25) One more over till the new ball and Nathan Smith decides to cash in, lofting Bethell for six and slog-sweeping for four. He’s made three-quarter of the runs in this partnership, 25 out of 33.

Share

79th over: New Zealand 329-6 (Mitchell 66, Smith 14) And here’s Fisher! Possibly warming up for the new ball. He too is immaculate and that’s another maiden.

“Is it possible,” asks Pete Salmon, “Joe Root just isn’t a very good captain? Time to go there? Have we fallen for the Halo Effect? Great batsman, good bloke, so must be good captain?” I went there a few times during his five years as the official captain, when he was good at times but often played too safe, notably against New Zealand at Lord’s, when he didn’t even try to chase a gettable target. The strange thing this time is that he’s been quite different – funky to a fault, forever changing the plan – and just as ineffective.

Share

Click here to read article