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“Well, personally, I liked that,” says Martin Wright. “England were wobbling at 237-6, so crashbangwallop was succeeded by steady accumulation, to set a suitably intimidating target. Bazball with added intelligence. Nice.” Agreed, although there’s nothing unintelligent about the policy – just occasionally the execution of it.
“Dinner? Dinner?!” splutters Adrian Clossick. “It’s Tea. I’m all for the brave new world of Bazball and tearing up the rule book, but you’ve taken it too far this time!” Ha. Tea is 20 minutes, dinner is 40. Maybe we can meet in the middle and say high tea.
Apparently that was England’s third-highest total in Tests without a ton. Take that, Sir Geoffrey. It’s a highly unusual scorecard, with eight players reaching 25 and not one of them making it to 60. The top scorer was Harry Brook, yet again: what a start he has had to his Test career. If he’s not careful, he’ll end up opening in the Ashes, to make room for Jonny Bairstow at No 5.
WICKET! Leach st Blundell b Bracewell 12 (England 374 all out)Leach is beaten in the flight, Bracewell has a hard-earned three-for, and England are done. All NZ need to do to win the match is make 394. Piece of cake!
72nd over: England 369-9 (Leach 11, Anderson 2) Leach has finally got his act together. Facing Kuggeleijn, he clips for two, then upper-cuts for four.
“I know I am an old fart,” says Anthony Barnett, “but I can’t help looking at the England scorecard and thinking, worryingly in the spirit of Boycott, that you can’t win a Test match if someone doesn’t turn one of these good starts into a big 100. Tell me it ain’t so.” It definitely ain’t so. Sometimes you can win a Test with a few well-timed 20s and 30s. It’s about the team total, not the individual. Can someone tell Boycott?
72nd over: England 363-9 (Leach 5, Anderson 2) Leach rises to the challenge! Facing Bracewell’s first ball, he more than doubles his score with a whip to midwicket for three. Anderson chips in with a cut for two before Bracewell restores order.
71st over: England 358-9 (Leach 2, Anderson 0) Kuggeleijn bangs it in at Anderson, who has no trouble taking evasive action. The onus is now on Jack Leach – after making 2 off 31 balls, can he roar into second gear?
Wicket! Robinson c Nicholls b Kuggeleijn 39 (England 358-9)Robinson goes over to the off side, Kuggeleijn follows him, there’s a nick or a glove and that’s a simple catch at slip. And what’s this? Jimmy Anderson is coming in. Stokes hasn’t declared!
70th over: England 354-8 (Robinson 35, Leach 2) Some intent straightaway from Ollie Robinson, who plays the finest of paddles for four. The sun is out, the shadows are long, the vibe is relaxed.
The players are out there and Bracewell is about to resume his marathon spell.
Dinner! England lead by 36869th over: England 349-8 (Robinson 30, Leach 2) Wagner digs it in, as ever. Robinson knows it’s coming and is waiting with the pull – the first boundary for nine overs. And that’s dinner, with England back on top but crossing their fingers about the state of Robinson’s knee, and New Zealand regaining their self-respect through a long, exacting spell of off-spin from Michael Bracewell.
“Scorecard link for Kim Thonger,” says Rob Cookson. “https://www.theguardian.com/sport/cricket/match/2023-02-17/england-cricket-team. You’re welcome!”
68th over: England 344-8 (Robinson 25, Leach 2) In a cunning variation, Bracewell concedes a leg-bye rather than a run. The last ten overs have brought just 25 runs. Can the crowd ask for their money back?
67th over: England 343-8 (Robinson 25, Leach 2) Change of bowling: it’s Neil Wagner, the second person to make a century in this match. He’s been nursing some wounded pride and a spectacular set of figures – 11-0-104-2. And now he goes for … just the one! He almost has some joy as a fend from Leach goes close to a tumbling figure at silly point – Southee, who has posted himself there, presumably to show his team that he’s game for anything.
66th over: England 342-8 (Robinson 24, Leach 2) Back to form in Bracewell’s over, except that Robinson’s customary single is a top edge that only just evades the fielder at mid-on.
65th over: England 341-8 (Robinson 23, Leach 2) Jack Leach gets a run! After firing blanks for 13 balls, he clips Tickner to square leg for two. The partnership rockets to six off four overs.
Here’s Rob Lewis, our man in Istanbul. “The seagulls swoop over the Bosphorus ferry as I write,” he says, “diving for the simit bread which the Turks like to lob at them. Perhaps a crumb of comfort for the Kiwis as the wickets clatter?”
64th over: England 338-8 (Robinson 22, Leach 0) Same again, off Bracewell. Normal cricket has resumed. Soon, NZ will be batting through 200 overs for a gutsy draw.
63rd over: England 337-8 (Robinson 21, Leach 0) Another over, another single to Robinson. The bowler is Tickner, who has now added a three-for to his three-run haul.
62nd over: England 336-8 (Robinson 20, Leach 0) Jack Leach tries to impose himself on Bracewell and the game with a reverse sweep, but gets a bottom edge and no run.
Here’s Kim Thonger. “I am awakened from slumber today,” he announces, “not by a dream but by venison based indigestion.” TMI!
“A quick slug of Gaviscon (or as we call it in these parts, Gavaskar) sorts that out and enables me to focus on Taha’s description of another positive performance by England’s batsmen. But will this run fest continue when we engage with the Aussie bowling lineup? Or will grim reality intrude? Discuss. PS where’s the scorecard gone?” Good question. The scorecard is an automated thing, and I’m not sure who to call at this hour…
61st over: England 335-8 (Robinson 19, Leach 0) Foakes’s 51 came off 80 balls with five fours. He’s still the designated driver.
WICKET! Foakes c Blundell b Tickner 51 (England 335-8)… but it goes to his head! Well, not really – he gets a nick on a ball from Blair Tickner that is on the spot and doing just enough.
Fifty to Foakes!Robinson is OK to bat on. Foakes, unruffled as ever, takes two to reach fifty…
There’s a hold-up while Ollie Robinson gets some treatment. It looks as if he’s done something to his knee while trotting back for a second run. And the runs weren’t even his.
“Spilling your coffee so soon, Tim?” chuckles Brian Withington. “Good to see you taking on another early morning shift after yesterday’s completely unwarranted snark. Keep up the fine work and meanwhile who needs caffeine, anyway?” I do! And thanks, but can I defend the right to snark? We get so many genial emails, we can’t complain if there’s the odd ticking-off.
59th over: England 331-7 (Foakes 47, Robinson 19) More murmurs of appreciation on the microphone as Robinson plays a reverse sweep. Shot by shot, he is shaking off the memory of that unedifying retreat to leg at the end of the Ashes. The lead reaches 350. Should be more than enough but you never know, especially as the pitch has only two and a half days’ wear.
“Regarding the coffee spill,” says Alisdair Gould, “it is a fitting way for you to approach the crease. Like England, you are wiping the floor with them! Boom Boom.”
58th over: England 323-7 (Foakes 44, Robinson 14) Foakes, facing Southee, gets the commentators purring with a back-foot flick down the ground for two.
57th over: England 319-7 (Foakes 40, Robinson 13) Another one-run over, from Bracewell. I dunno, England just haven’t been the same since Stokes went past McCullum’s all-time record for Test sixes.
57th over: England 318-7 (Foakes 40, Robinson 13) Southee’s over goes for just one. What does he think this is, 2019?
56th over: England 317-7 (Foakes 39, Robinson 13) Michael Bracewell keeps Ollie Robinson honest with five dots – but still gets whipped for four. England lead by 336.
55th over: England 313-7 (Foakes 39, Robinson 9) Tim Southee brings himself back and gets the lid on the saucepan, going for only two singles. But the chase his team face will be a record one for Tests in New Zealand.
54th over: England 311-7 (Foakes 38, Robinson 8) And on we rock.
Thanks Taha and hello everyone. I join you with all the cool calm composure of a man who has just sent his flask of coffee flying across a pale grey carpet. Ah well, never liked that carpet much anyway.
Foakes clips beautifully for four more – it’s now very much up to him to finish the job. There’s a little break in play before the over finishes up – time for drinks and enough from me as Tim de Lisle steps up.
WICKET! Stokes st Blundell b Bracewell 31 (England 293-7)Stokes slaps Bracewell down the ground for four but the off-spinner outfoxes him with the final ball of the over: it’s tossed up, Stokes comes down the ground, doesn’t get any of it, and Blundell does the rest.
52nd over: England 293-7 (Foakes 28, Robinson 0)
51st over: England 287-6 (Stokes 26, Foakes 27) Foakes keeps his pull shot low to bring about a boundary off Kuggeleijn. He’s not scoring at a bad rate at all is Foakes, but we’ve been spoiled so much today that this partnership of 50, off 58 balls, feels awfully slow. There’s still loads of time in this:
We’re about halfway through the Test @tahahash.
Life comes at us quite quick these days doesn’t it?
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) February 18, 2023 50th over: England 278-6 (Foakes 22, Stokes 23) Lovely shot from Foakes, who gets to the pitch of the ball to chip Bracewell into the leg side for four. An lbw shout off Stokes closes the over, but New Zealand decide against the review.
Stokes becomes the leading six-hitter in Test cricketKuggeleijn goes around the wicket to bump Foakes, who swivels to pull and nab a single. Stokes then helps a short delivery over the fine-leg boundary to become the leading six-hitter in the history of Test cricket! And then it looks as if he’s out, as he finds Wagner on the boundary, but the fielder is stood on the fine-leg rope – he couldn’t let it go before he went over! And so that’s another six! Stokes has beaten his pal McCullum by the way, surpassing his coach’s tally of 107 Test sixes.
49th over: England 273-6 (Foakes 17, Stokes 23)
48th over: England 260-6 (Foakes 16, Stokes 11) Stokes punches Bracewell down the ground for a single before Foakes clips for one himself. The England captain then gets on one leg but doesn’t make contact on the slog sweep – the first signs of Stokes going after the spinner.
47th over: England 258-6 (Stokes 10, Foakes 15) Kuggeleijn fires down a leg-side full toss, but Foakes can’t get any bat on it to take advantage. He then repeats the same delivery, with the ball deflecting off Foakes’ foot to run away for four.
46th over: England 252-6 (Stokes 9, Foakes 11) And it’s quiet again as Bracewell runs through another over without any damage.
45th over: England 250-6 (Foakes 10, Stokes 8) It’s been a quiet start to the session, but Stokes finally gets off the mark off his 13th delivery, pulling Kuggeleijn for four before carving the bowler through point for another boundary with the next ball.
44th over: England 241-6 (Foakes 9, Stokes 0) Bracewell continues to trundle in and Stokes is showing him quite a bit of respect, blocking one ball after the next.
43rd over: England 238-6 (Foakes 6, Stokes 0) Kuggeleijn, targeting Foakes’ pads, concedes a single off his penultimate ball.
42nd over: England 237-6 (Foakes 5, Stokes 0) Bracewell continues, tossing it up to tempt Stokes – but the England captain, perhaps surprisingly, resists the big shot.
We’re back on, with Stokes and Foakes out in the middle.
Tea: England 237-6, lead by 256That was plenty of fun, with Pope, Brook and Root all playing enterprising innings as Neil Wagner’s short ball went around the park. But New Zealand have managed to keep the wickets coming, and despite all that carnage they’re still very much in this game.
WICKET! Root c Mitchell b Bracewell 57 (England 237-6)Aaaaaaaand I’ve got him out. Root tries to revere sweep Bracewell, top-edges it, the ball flicks Blundell’s glove before Mitchell holds on at slip. And that’s the end of the session.
41st over: England 237-5 (Root 57, Foakes 5) Root and Foakes exchange singles before the former flicks one off the pads for two. He’s ticking along is Root, keeping things simple, not doing anything too risky while going at close to a run a ball.