Henry five-for secures New Zealand lead despite Fisher rearguard

Fisher scored his maiden Test half-century and added 53 for the final wicket to reduce England's margin of deficit

Alan Gardner

Published: Jun 19, 2026, 12:18 PM (2 hrs ago)

England 291 (Gay 53, Fisher 50*, Henry 5-80) trail New Zealand 391 by 100 runs

New Zealand strengthened their grip on the second Test at The Oval by bowling England out for 291 on the third morning. That gave them a first-innings lead of exactly 100, although it would have been more but for a redoubtable maiden Test fifty from Matthew Fisher, England's No. 9, who helped put on 53 for the last wicket with Sonny Baker.

Matt Henry took three of the four wickets to fall, finishing with figures of 5 for 80 - his first Test five-for against England - and, despite Fisher's filibustering, it left New Zealand with the prospect of turning the screw through two sessions with the bat on a baking afternoon in south London.

After being sub-par in all departments on day two, England returned looking to one of their three debutants to try and narrow the deficit, which stood at 169 overnight. Jordan Cox had played neatly in his maiden Test innings but would have to marshal the tail, with not much batting to come after Jofra Archer at No. 8.

However, he had added only a single and clip for four to his overnight score when he tried to whip Henry through the leg side in the fourth over of the day and was snapped up by the diving Tom Latham at short midwicket. A score of 235 for 6 swiftly became 238 for 9 as Henry wrapped up a five-wicket haul, surprisingly his first in 11 Test appearances against England.

Archer had struck Kyle Jamieson for a brace of fours but also fell to Henry's nagging line of attack with the keeper stood up to the stumps, a waft in the channel smartly held by Tom Blundell going to his right. Josh Tongue then tried and failed to clear mid-on - Nathan Smith plucking the ball in his right hand as he fell backwards, after dropping the initial overhead chance.

It should have been 242 all-out when Fisher, batting alongside another debutant in Baker, called for a non-existent two to deep backward point. Blundell was unable to gather cleanly, though, with Fisher diving for his ground and Baker belatedly realising the need to scramble up the other end.

New Zealand were left to regret squandering that chance. Fisher started the counter by thumping Will O'Rourke's first ball through the covers, while Baker got off the mark in Test cricket by edging Smith wide of the cordon for four. New Zealand did eventually deign to use the short-ball ploy that led to England short-circuiting on the second morning, with O'Rourke clanging Fisher on the helmet grille, but the Surrey seamer was not to be cowed on his home ground.

When Smith, switching ends to replaces O'Rourke, also went short he was swatted away confidently by Fisher, who then survived an under-edge off the bowling of Rachin Ravindra that Blundell couldn't lay gloves on. Smith was picked off on the pull and then the drive as Fisher moved into the 40s and he cracked on against the second new ball, carving Henry down to deep third and then turning him through square leg an over later to raise 50, celebrated with a look to the skies and a kiss of the bat.

Fisher did not get a chance to add to his score - only his third first-class half-century - as Jamieson finally ended Baker's 36-ball resistance via an outside edge to second slip with the lunch interval looming.

Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick

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