England v New Zealand: first men’s cricket Test, day two - as it happened

Key events

51st over: England 222-8 (Robinson 26, Tongue 4) O’Rourke replaces Jamieson. His first ball almost leads to a wicket when Williamson misses a run-out chance from point. Tongue was well short when the throw whistled past the stumps.

Tongue gets off the mark with a cracking on-drive for four, then deflects four leg-byes off the hip. England lead by 249.

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50th over: England 213-8 (Robinson 25, Tongue 0) Earlier in the over, Robinson showed his delicate side by cradling a scared puppy gliding Smith through backward point for four. Tail-end runs are rarely more irritating than when they’re scored a strike rate of almost 200.

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WICKET! England 213-8 (Smith b Smith 39)

Mr Smith goes to Mr Smith. It was an unplayable delivery, pretty much: a seaming grubber that sneaked under Jamie Smith’s bat as he tried to defend.

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Updated at 12.32 EDT

49th over: England 206-7 (Smith 38, Robinson 19) Robinson wangs Jamieson for two more, addressing the ball with such a lusty heave that he becomes the latest player in this game to break their bat.

A top-edged pull for four brings up England’s 200. Jamieston has had enough and switches to round the wicket. Robinson makes room to force a single to deep midwicket; he has 19 from just 11 balls.

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48th over: England 197-7 (Smith 38, Robinson 10) Nathan Smith pitches one up to Robinson, who swings it handsomely over mid-on for four. Yeeha! In this innings, it seems Robinson is far left on the good time/long time spectrum. He smears two more down the ground, then deflects a short ball into his nether regions.

Both he and Nathan Smith ended up on the deck after that delivery. It was also an illegal delivery, prompting a clip-it-up bit of commentary on Sky Sports.

double quotation markNasser Hussain “No-ball”

Mark Butcher (after a pregnant pause) “Literally”

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Updated at 12.10 EDT

47th over: England 189-7 (Smith 38, Robinson 3) Kyle Jamieson gave the new batter Ollie Robinson some tap this morning. Robinson responds by pulling his first ball brusquely through midwicket for three.

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WICKET! England 184-7 (Atkinson ct and b Jamieson 14)

Goodnight Gus. He tried to pull Jamieson, but the ball was too wide for that shot and he could only top-edge it back to the bowler. Jamieson has his first wicket of the innings; New Zealand need three more to set up a runchase.

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Updated at 12.00 EDT

46th over: England 184-6 (Smith 36, Atkinson 14) Atkinson takes a single off Smith to make this the highest partnership of the match, 53 runs and counting. Smith toe-ends a drive through extra cover for two, then steals two leg-byes to fine leg. England lead by 211.

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Updated at 11.52 EDT

45th over: England 179-6 (Smith 34, Atkinson 13) Atkinson plays a nothing shot off Jamieson and is beaten. Careful now.

“I’d never heard of Paul Gibb, Len Hutton’s opening partner in the timeless Test you mentioned,” writes John Cox, but a quick Wikipedia leaves me wanting more.

“Went to private school and Emmanuel College Cambridge. Scored 97 and 120 odd in his second Test in that match. Flew Catalinas and Sunderlands throughout the war. Played eight Tests in all averaging 44 as a wicketkeeper before getting dropped for Godfrey Evans. Left cricket for four years before becoming the first MCC member to sign a professional contract (for Essex) and being booted out of the MCC. Became a bus driver in Essex and died suddenly aged 63. All while looking like Brian Close’s more austere uncle.

“One of cricket’s myriad untold stories there.”

They could fill a book.

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Updated at 11.48 EDT

44th over: England 176-6 (Smith 33, Atkinson 11) Batting looks relatively comfortable right now, but who knows how long that will last. As that famous cricket tragic Ferris Bueller said, Lord’s moves pretty fast.

So much for batting looking comfortable. Nathan almost wins the Smith-off with a spectacular nipbacker to Jamie; it cuts him in half, misses leg stump by a whisker and flies away for four byes.

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Updated at 11.48 EDT

43rd over: England 170-6 (Smith 32, Atkinson 10) Kyle Jamieson, who has been a little underused today, returns after tea. Nothing to report.

“We’ve had 30 individual innings in this Test and only six of them have included more than two boundaries,” notes Tim de Lisle. “One in the first innings (Brook with ten), two in the second (Phillips six, Jamieson five including three sixes), and three so far in the third (Duckett six, Gay eight, Smith six). The only person who got there by playing old-school cricket was the newest recruit.”

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“What a truly mystifying first Test, with this wicket turning the Great Reset into a more of Rorschach test,” writes Ben Tyrer-Gay. “Are England suffering from their usual case of collapse-itis or are there signs of a more circumspect approach that has been undone by balls that are shooting low, nipping in extravagantly, or not-really-doing-much-why-didn’t-you-hit-that-Ben?

“I think I’m leaning towards the later, especially with the ominous overheads adding to the general sense of bowler’s paradise, which makes Gay’s knock all the more promising.”

I would lean strongly towards the latter, although Stokes’ form is a major concern.

Also, I had no idea that, in a former life, Ollie Pope was Hermann Rorschach.

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Updated at 11.24 EDT

Tea: England lead by 193 runs

A seesaw session at Lord’s. England scored 94 for 5 in 27 overs, but those numbers won’t provide anybody with chapter and verse. England were 126 for 2 and in control; two overs later they were 127 for 6 and it was happening again. But Jamie Smith counter-attacked with authority, Gus Atkinson provided sensible support and the collective heart rate at Lord’s started to drop.

Oh, and we still have no idea who’s going to win this game.

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42nd over: England 166-6 (Smith 31, Atkinson 7) Smith plays another majestic cover drive for four, this time off Henry, before punching another boundary through mid-off. Terrific batting. And that, my good friend, is tea.

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41st over: England 158-6 (Smith 23, Atkinson 7) This partnership is worth 31, which makes it the fifth-highest of the match. O’Rourke almost ends it with a blistering yorker that knocks Atkinson off his feet. It would have swung past leg stump, a long way past it in fact, and New Zealand’s decision to review was a stinker. They still have two reviews left so it’s not a Headingley 2019 repeat.

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40th over: England 157-6 (Smith 22, Atkinson 7) An outswinging yorker from Henry is edged along the ground for a couple by Smith. A single takes England’s lead to 184.

Incidentally, Ben Stokes has scored 15 runs in his last five Test innings. His form has been a worry for a couple of years – he averages 26.88 in his last 25 Tests – and the concern is growing.

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Updated at 11.36 EDT

39th over: England 154-6 (Smith 19, Atkinson 7) Smith stands tall to hammer O’Rourke through the covers for four. That’s a helluva shot, and the sound off the bat evoked this bit of Ricky Ponting porn. (Safe for work.)

England lead by 181.

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38th over: England 148-6 (Smith 15, Atkinson 6) Matt Henry returns with the keeper up to the stumps. He starts with a maiden to Smith.

“Happy first Test of the summer,” writes Felix Wood. “I’m not saying that you’re personally responsible for England’s imminent collapse and humiliating defeat, but I’m not not saying it. I would really rather like Smith to get rid of his yips please, so if you could avoid saying anything nice about him that would be great. With great power comes great responsibility.”

And with the square root of bugger all power?

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37th over: England 148-6 (Smith 15, Atkinson 6) Smith drives O’Rourke sweetly off the back foot for four runs.

A consequence of the recent mayham is that Emilio Gay’s 57 will be England’s highest score of the match. Do you hear that, Dame Fortune? Are you listening? I thnk the last England debutant to do that was Keaton Jennings in 2016-17.

“May I be the first to point out that if only the England batters were allowed some license to express themselves and counter attack against a dominant bowling attack,” says Brian Withington. “This rigid timidity and obsession with playing ‘proper cricket’ is the perennial curse of the national team.”

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36th over: England 142-6 (Smith 10, Atkinson 5) Atkinson lashes Nathan Smith through point for his first boundary. Every little helps, and a pair of edges for four from Jamie Smith take England’s lead to 169. The second was close to the flying Phillips in the gully.

“Do we think England already have enough??” asks Phil Harrison. “Not even really joking...”

GOOD BECAUSE THIS IS NO JOKE. If conditions stay like this, they could have declared half an hour ago. But if the sun comes out, 250 might not be enough. And if England set New Zealand a target of exactly 205, I’m off.

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35th over: England 129-6 (Smith 2, Atkinson 0) Smith breaks a bat while defending one of O’Rourke’s splice-botherers. While he waits for a replacement, I’ll segue gratuitously into a piece in this month’s Wisden Cricket Monthly on another Kiwi splice-botherer, Bruce Taylor. In the modern game he would be a franchise superstar, and it was a lot of fun reading about his career.

“Hey, remember five-day Tests?” chirps Matt Dony. “Good times…”

Some living souls remember ten-day Tests. I’d love to hear their hot, hot takes on modern batting.

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Updated at 10.43 EDT

34th over: England 127-6 (Smith 0, Atkinson 0) A double-wicket maiden for Nathan Smith. Replays show that the ball to Stokes straightened a touch, so it wasn’t quite the case that Stokes missed a straight one. But Stokes at his best, the 2019-21 version, would have dealt with it.

“Rob!” says Richard O’Hagan. “Whatever you’re doing, stop it!”

Given the nonsense I typed about Perth, if this ends in two days, I shall tender my resignation before sundown.

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England have lost four wickets for one run in 11 balls. Ben Stokes has been cleaned up by Nathan Smith, having played down the wrong line of a delivery that didn’t do too much. Goodness me.

Before anyone opens their face, all four batters were out to defensive strokes.

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WICKET! England 127-6 (Stokes b Smith 0)

Unbelieeeeeeeevable stuff!

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Updated at 10.43 EDT

New Zealand have bowled excellently in the last half hour, helped by the cloudy conditions. Incidentally, the last time Joe Root was out in single figures in both innings of a Test was… oh good lord.

“Invoking Perth 2025 straight off the bat, Rob!” sniffs Brian Withington. “Surely best consigned with Adelaide 2006 alongside the Ark in its sealed box in Warehouse 51?”

What has Victoria’s Gerard Denton-inspired Sheffield Shield win over South Australia got to do with anything?

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Two wickets in two balls for New Zealand! Nathan Smith pinned Root with a very similar delivery that cut back sharply to hit the pad.

Root was hit above the flap of the pad and eventually reviewed – but it was umpire’s call and he’s out in single figures for the second time.

England were 126 for 2. They are no longer 126 for 2.

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WICKET! England 127-5 (Root LBW b Smith 8)

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33rd over: England 127-4 (Root 8, Smith 0)

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WICKET! England 127-4 (Brook LBW b O'Rourke 0)

Another quick wicket and England might get the heebie-jeebies. This isn’t the Perth Zone, but it is the exact situation they have struggled to maximise in recent years.

Uh-oh, now Harry Brook has gone! He fell over a beautiful inducker from Will O’Rourke and was eventually given out LBW by Rod Tucker. Brook went upstairs but there were three reds and he’s gone for a duck.

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Updated at 10.31 EDT

32nd over: England 126-3 (Root 7, Brook 0) That was the last ball of the over. Smith celebrated by running straight to Blundell, though really he should have charged off the field to hug the guy who pounded the footholds a moment earlier.

Replays of Gay’s dismissal show that he could have left the ball from Smith on line, but that’s offensively easy to say from this distance. It was an instinctive flirtation outside off stump, the kind openers live and die by all the time.

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Updated at 10.27 EDT

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