Key events
3.1 overs: New Zealand 5-3 (Latham 2, Mitchell 2) The hat-trick ball is left calmly by Tom Latham.
With Robinson waiting at the top of his mark, the umpires check the light. Daryl Mitchell tries to get over the field quicksmart, like Alec Stewart at Headingley in 1998, but play will continue…
3rd over: New Zealand 5-3 (Latham 2, Mitchell 2) No disrespect to Gus Atkinson but who cares.
“The obligatory…” is the subject of Brian Withington’s email, which reads simply:
double quotation markCricket. Bloody hell.
I’ve always wondered about that phrase – should there be a full stop, a comma or a question mark before the BH? I used to think a question mark but eventually came round to the comma, and now I have no idea.
2nd over: New Zealand 2-3 (Latham 1, Mitchell 0) I don’t think I’ve ever cried this much while watching cricket. Robinson’s absence has been one of the saddest stories in English cricket for decades; there was fault on both sides, probably a fair bit of misunderstanding too. It’s not worth going back over all that, not when he has just bowled probably the greatest comeback over in history.
Ravindra is out! He prodded defensively and was beaten by another beautiful bit of seam bowling. This time theer was a slight doubt over height – but again it was umpire’s call and Ollie Robinson has bowled an over that we will be talking about forever.
Oh, and he’ll be on a hat-trick at the start of the next over.
ShareWICKET! New Zealand 2-3 (Ravindra LBW b Robinson 0)
DRS permitting, OLLIE ROBINSON HAS BOWLED A TRIPLE-WICKET MAIDEN!
Updated at 12.46 EDT
Ollie Robinson has figures of 2 for 0! Williamson was beaten first ball, then pushed defensively with hard hands at a nipbacker. The ball hit the pad, looped up and was caught with glee by the diving Emilio Gay. He’d only just been placed at short leg by Ben Stokes, and Robinson ran straight over to Stokes in acknowledgement of his captaincy.
ShareWICKET! New Zealand 2-2 (Williamson c Gay b Robinson 0)
Magnificent bowling from Ollie Robinson!
It took just three balls for Robinson to strike. The first two took the inside-edge of Conway’s bat; the third seamed back to beat him on the inside and hit the pad. Robinson implored Rod Tucker to give the LBW and was rewarded.
Conway reviewed in the hope it was missing leg – but it was umpire’s call and Robinson has his 77th Test wicket. I suspect it’s the sweetest of them all. He celebrated with an almighty roar, and to tell you the truth my eyes went a bit damp at that point.
It was close, just clipping leg, but it was also highly skilful bowling from a world-class cricketer.
ShareWICKET! New Zealand 2-1 (Conway LBW b Robinson 1)
Ollie Robinson is back, baby!
Ollie Robinson strikes! Photograph: Gareth Copley/ECB/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 12.46 EDT
Like Kyle Jamieson, Ollie Robinson is playing his first Test since February 2024. The reasons for their absence are quite different, and probably don’t need exploring any more. It’s just exciting to see such a skilful bowler back in the team.
There was a fascinating and confusing stat on Robinson in this month’s Wisden Cricket Monthly. I forget the exact details, but the gist of it is that, he has a significantly better bowling average in Tests when his pace drops below 80mph. Riddle me that.
1st over: New Zealand 2-0 (Latham 1, Conway 1) Atkinson has bowled the first over of a Test innings on three occasions before today, including both innings of his last appearance at the MCG.
He starts pretty well from the Pavilion End, drawing a thick edge from Latham that is well stopped by Bethell in the gully. Accurate stuff from Atkinson; two singles from the over.
The players are back on the field. Gus Atkinson and Ollie Robinson, in that order, will open the bowling to Tom Latham and Devon Conway.
Thanks Tim, hello again. England will hope this match follows a similar pattern to the first Bazball Test against New Zealand on this ground four years ago. But only in the first innings.
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New Zealand 132 & 285
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England 141 & 279-5
Time for me to hand over again. Thanks for your company, correspondence and waspish remarks about Brendon McCullum, and I’ll leave you with the great Rob Smyth. I’m due back on Sunday, if the game lasts that long.
ShareEngland 140 all out!
40th over (Tongue 12, Bashir c Williamson b Smith 14) England’s last pair stuck around long enough to precipitate a bowling change. Jamieson takes a break (14-0-62-5) and back comes Nathan Smith, whose trajectory is much lower. His first ball goes down the leg side for two byes. Two balls later, Bashir has a heave over the leg side and moves to his highest Test score. Next ball, he hangs his bat out and gets a rather limp edge to third slip.
Kyle Jamieson holds the ball up to the crowd and his team-mates go off feeling that’s a job well done, especially after Matt Henry pulled up lame. Jamieson took 5-62, Smith 3-38 and the fearsome O’Rourke 2-25. So the question is, can Atkinson, Robinson and Tongue return the compliment?
39th over: England 136-9 (Tongue 12, Bashir 10) O’Rourke continues and Tongue keeps him out, helped by a pair of bouncers, which he ducks, leaving one of these fast bowlers with a glare on his face, the other with a smile.
38th over: England 136-9 (Tongue 12, Bashir 10) Cork could bat a bit and Bashir is threatening to emulate him. Facing Jamieson, he conjures up a tuck for two and a cut for two more. Double figures! He celebrates in true No.11 fashion, with a play-and-miss. The partnership is 18, which makes it the third-highest of the innings.
37th over: England 132-9 (Tongue 10, Bashir 8) A maiden from O’Rourke, and the stats are piling up: one of the commentators mentions that Bashir is the first Derbyshire player to play for England since Dominic Cork, 24 years ago. No offence to Bashir, but in this predicament, Cork might be more use.
36th over: England 132-9 (Tongue 10, Bashir 8) Jamieson offers some width and Bashir says thanks very much, flashing for four and driving for two.
Meanwhile Rob has a great spot about Jamieson’s place in history. “He now has 85 Test wickets at 19.18. The last person to take more Test wickets at a better average was SF Barnes, who played his last Test four months before the death of Franz Ferdinand.” That average may be marginally higher now, but the point probably stands.
35th over: England 126-9 (Tongue 10, Bashir 2) From the Nursery Enf, it’s the alarming Mr O’Rourke. Josh Tongue rises to the challenge with a shovel for two past mid-off and a cover drive, on the up, for four. That makes him the fourth man to reach double figures today, after Duckett, Brook and Stokes. And the second right-hander.
34th over: England 120-9 (Tongue 4, Bashir 2) So, in no time, England are down to their last man. Shoaib Bashir plays one solid defensive shot, a waft outside off and then a very respectable nurdle for two. Jamieson strolls off to the deep with figures of five for 52 off 12 overs. In the away dressing-room, the engraver gets to work.
ShareWicket! Robinson c Blundell b Jamieson 1 (England 118-9)
And here is that fifth wicket. Robinson pokes at a ball that keeps low and gets a nick that is picked up by the stump mic, and more importantly, Ultra Edge.
Tom Blundell celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Ollie Robinson. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 12.14 EDT
Play!
The players are out there and the ball is in the hands of Kyle Jamieson, who needs one more wicket to get on the honours board.
It’s been a dream of a day so far for the New Zealanders. Kyle Jamieson has taken four wickets and he hasn’t even been the best bowler. Will O’Rourke has been quicker, more threatening and just as tall.
SharePlay will resume at 4.51
The umps have ruled that play will resume at 4.51pm, in about 15 minutes… as long as the rain holds off.
The rain has relented. As the covers come off, the umpires are in the middle carrying out an inspection. Meanwhile, in front of the pavilion, most of the England captains you can think of are lining up for a team photo, from Mike Brearley to Michael Vaughan. Alec Stewart, ever The Gaffer, is making a forceful point to his predecessor, Mike Atherton. David Gower, in a pinstripe suit, is having a laugh with his successor, Mike Gatting.
ShareRain-break reading
This is a good question.
And another correspondent is back for a second spell. “Brendon McCullum is clearly not enjoying Lord’s today,” says Ken Andrew. “The England balcony is so small he’s unable to put his feet up to show the world how chilled he is…” Ouch!
Another good spot from Mark Puttick. “Harry Brook’s ten Test innings v NZ: three scores between 0 and 1 (0, 0, 1), the remaining seven all over 50 (89, 54, 186, 171, 123, 55, 56).”
I feel a song coming on.
ShareStill off for rain
“But,” says Ian Ward, “the mop-up has begun.”
Many thanks to Rob, whose paragraphs were a pleasure to read as usual. Though he did seem to bring a lot of England wickets with him. When he took over from me at 1.45 or so, Duckett and Bethell were still together.
The weather is improving so hopefully play will resume soon. I’m going to hand over back to Tim for a little while.
ShareTea
The umpires have brought tea forward, which means play is scheduled to restart at 4.11pm. That looks unlikely, because there’s biblical stuff falling from the sky.
“It may sound harsh to criticise Harry Brook after a highly entertaining and crucial half-century in bowler-friendly conditions,” says Colum Fordham. “But perhaps he could have reined in his natural aggression after Stokes got out.”
He was batting with the No9, so slowing down would have made no sense. Given the match situation and the noise around the England team, I thought Brook’s tempo and risk-management were about as good as could be reasonably expected.
That was an extremely tough session for England, who made 94 for 7 in 23.1 overs. New Zealand bowled beautifully, Will O’Rourke in particular, and most of the England batters were out playing defensively. The exception was Harry Brook, who rode his luck to make a brilliant counter-attacking 56.
ShareBad light stops play
33.1 overs: England 118-8 (Robinson 1, Tongue 4) So much for Jamieson’s fitness. He has changed ends to replace Smith – maybe New Zealand just want to ough up England’s quicks with their tallest bowlers – and immediately beats Robinson with a preposterous, unplayable delivery.
That’s the last ball of this session: the light has deteriorated and the players are going off.
33rd over: England 118-8 (Robinson 1, Tongue 4) Kyle Jamieson is replaced by Will O’Rourke. That might seem harsh, when he’s one short of a five-for, but he’s bowled 11 overs today and his enduring fitness is far more important.
Tongue is hit high on the bat by O’Rourke but survives the last four balls of the over.
“Is it cowardly to pray for a near-biblical deluge covering just St John’s Wood for the period between now and 6pm on Monday?” asks Richard O’Hagan.
32nd over: England 117-8 (Robinson 0, Tongue 4) A very good ball from Smith is inside-edged past the stumps and away for four by Josh Tongue.
ShareWICKET! England 113-8 (Brook c Jamieson b Smith 56)
Stop the press: New Zealand have caught Harry Brook. After pulling Smith for four and missing an attempt to launch six over extra cover, Brook flicked high towards fine leg and was well taken by Jamieson. The end of a highly entertaining innings, without which England would be in an even deeper stink.
31st over: England 108-7 (Brook 52, Robinson 0) Kyle Jamieson has Benson & Hedges Cup figures: 11-0-50-4.
The new batter is Ollie Robinson, who made a first-class hundred against Suirrey this summer. But what we really want is to see him bowl in these conditions.
Updated at 10.40 EDT
WICKET! England 108-7 (Atkinson LBW b Jamieson 4)
After Brook flashes Jamieson for four to reach a blistering fifty, Atkinson is plumb LBW to a majestic off-cutter. Jamieson is one away from his sixth Tet five-for.
Gus Atkinson is gone for just four. Photograph: Chris Foxwell/ProSports/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 10.41 EDT
30th over: England 102-6 (Brook 47, Atkinson 3)
29th over: England 100-6 (Brook 46, Atkinson 3) It’s so good to see Kyle Jamieson back after all his injury problems. This is his first Test appearance since February 2024 and only his fourth appearance since New Zealand’s tour of England four years ago.
Four is also the number of wickets he should have in this innings, because Brook has been dropped again. He picked up a short ball towards deep square leg, where Ravindra spilled a relatively straightforward running chance. Ravindra got himself in a weird position, jumping to meet the ball with both feet off the ground.
I think he’d have taken that had it been any other batter, but Brook puts fielding teams under so much pressure. New Zealand dropped him five times when he leathered 171 at Christchurch in that 2024-25 series.
Updated at 10.33 EDT
28th over: England 99-6 (Brook 45, Atkinson 3) Atkinson, who scored a pulsating maiden century against Sri Lanka on this ground two years ago, times Smith nicely down the ground for three to get off the mark.
England’s seamers must be itching to bowl in these conditions, though you never know if or when the pitch will start to flatten out.
Updated at 10.24 EDT
27th over: England 94-6 (Brook 43, Atkinson 0) Gus Atkinson, who for reasons I can’t fathom has become a bit of a forgotten man, is the new batter.
There’s a slight concern over Stokes’ fitness as well. Earlier in that over he turned sharply after being sent back and appeared to hurt his groin in the process.
ShareWICKET! England 94-6 (Stokes c Williamson b Jamieson 12)
That’s a joke of a shot from Harry Brook, a disdainful pick-up/pull off Jamieson that flies over square leg for four. There’s a long way to go but Brook’s batting today has been so similar to the series-winning counter-attacks in New Zealand 18 months ago. On those occasions England were 71 for 4 and 43 for 4.
And today they are 94 for 6 because Stokes has gone! He pushed defensively at a length delivery that bounced to take a thick edge and was stunningly caught by Kane Williamson at third slip. Williamson swooped low, in from otf Latham, and clutched it one-handed just above the ground. What a catch!
Oh, Ben Stokes. Photograph: Alan Stanford/PPAUK/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 10.19 EDT
26th over: England 83-5 (Brook 36, Stokes 8) Stokes gets his first boundary with a crisp flick through midwicket off Smith. What England would give for Stokes to find some form with the bat. It’s been always three years since his poker-faced rampage against Australia on this ground, and in that time he averages less than 30.
“So,” writes Rory in Cardiff, “in what way is losing your off stump by not playing a shot any less a waste of your wicket than being caught on the boundary?
”At least with the more naked aggression of Bazball Mk1 wickets were lost trying to score runs, but that wicket takes us back to the drab old days before the current management took over.”
I think that’s a bit harsh on Smith, though there was arguably an element of being seen to do the right thing. Equally, the best batter today, by a distance, has been the most attacking.
25th over: England 79-5 (Brook 36, Stokes 4) Brook charges Jamieson and drags an inelegant, flamingoish boundary through mid-on. “You can’t just let Kyle Jamieson bowl in the same spot all the time,” says Stuart Broad on commentary. “You have to mess with his length.”
To prove the point, Jamieson’s next ball is too full and timed gloriously through mid-on for four more. Marvellous batting.
Drinks
Tea will be taken at 4.15pm due to the earlier rain.
24th over: England 71-5 (Brook 28, Stokes 4) Smith replaces Jamieson, who may change ends to replace O’Rourke. New Zealand are currently down to three specialist seamers because of Matt Henry’s back spasm.
“Ah yes, the new look England under the revitalisation of McCullum and Key!” writes X. “It’s just like the old-look England under McCullum and Key. The more it stays the same, the more it stays the same, non?”
The entitled moaning and thoughtless rants in my inbox has certainly stayed the same, even though the manner of England’s struggles with the bat today bear almost no resemblance to what happened in Australia.
Updated at 10.05 EDT