Lunch New Zealand 75 for 2 (Nicholls 23*, Ravindra 11*) vs England
England struck twice during a cagey morning session at The Oval after opting to bowl at the start of the second Test. Matthew Fisher, on his first appearance since 2022, picked up the wicket of Devon Conway in his third over, while Jofra Archer – back in the side after missing the first Test due to his involvement in the IPL, one of five changes made by England – removed Tom Latham in his second spell shortly before lunch.
Joe Root, England’s “interim” captain in the absence of Ben Stokes due to disciplinary reasons, took the opportunity to bowl first on a muggy morning in south London, where the start was delayed by half-an-hour following morning drizzle. After a chaotic build-up, England were fielding a reshaped side with three debutants, and as many as five players with one cap or fewer.
Luck was with Root as he tossed up as England Test captain for the first time in more than four years, but this was a very different prospect for the bowlers when compared to the first Test at Lord’s, where 16 wickets fell on the opening day. New Zealand’s top order had to battle through against some probing bowling, but there was the promise of runs to be made as the sun rose high and the early cloud cover burned off.
There was initially a green tinge to the surface, although pitches at The Oval have tended to be batter-friendly in recent times. Root was keen for his team to get out on the field; on the new faces, which included Test debuts for Jordan Cox, James Rew and Sonny Baker, he said there was a “huge amount of skill and excitement around what they can deliver”.
It was another newish face who made the early breakthrough. Fisher won his first Test cap on Root’s last tour as captain, in the Caribbean, but has had a long wait to add another to his collection. A second Test wicket was forthcoming in his opening spell as Conway, who had earlier flashed Archer past the dive of gully, gloved a short delivery down the leg side through to Rew, who snaffled up a maiden dismissal in the sixth over of the day.
With Latham and the returning Henry Nicholls, back in the side after Kane Williamson’s abrupt retirement, watchful through the first hour, Root was soon rotating through his fast-bowling options. Baker was introduced for the 12th over from the Vauxhall End and made a lively start, his third ball seaming and bouncing through to Rew past the shoulder of Nicholls’ bat. England thought they might have got another strangled down leg with the final ball of Baker’s over, only for DRS to confirm it had come off the thigh pad rather than inside edge.
At the other end, Latham looked to be bedding in for the long haul, compact and pugnacious as ever. He scored his first boundary after an hour’s play, flicking Josh Tongue through midwicket, then twice survived being rapped on the pads – height and a leg-side line saving New Zealand’s captain.
Nicholls, too, having dealt in controlled nudges, began to open up a little, using Tongue’s extra pace to go over gully; he picked up a second boundary via the same method against the returning Archer, in the process bringing up New Zealand’s fifty. But Archer finally claimed the wicket his bowling had deserved when squaring up Latham, a thick edge flying high to the right of gully where Jacob Bethell plucked an impressive two-handed catch.
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