England vs New Zealand: Ben Stokes’ side face smaller team to finish first day of series decider at Trent Bridge | Cricket news

England played a small battle until it was embarrassing, ending the first day of the series deciding the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge which was hot.

Tom Latham (151) and Devon Conway (157) looked to have beaten England to a record opening partnership of 317 runs against their hosts, only for four wickets to fall in just over an hour to reduce the Black Caps to 361-4 at stumps.

Ben Stokes (1-57), returned as captain after he and Gus Atkinson were suspended for one match, as long as Latham – bowled out for 129 by Jamie Smith – was this time taken by the wicketkeeper, while Conway followed his team-mate back into the field with an over later to die in the deep off-Joe Root (1-7).

Atkinson (1-62) and Jofra Archer (1-53) then took two wickets in two balls to end the day’s play as Rachin Ravindra (7) was hit on the sideline and Henry Nicholls (36) was dismissed.

Stokes received a warm welcome again but endured a testy return

For long periods of the day, it looked like it would be a punishing return to the team as captain for Stokes, although little blame can be laid at his door for his side’s struggles, apart from losing the crucial toss.

Latham, unsurprisingly, chose to use the first batting position of a sun-baked belter, much to the visible frustration of Stokes, who would come to agree that England could do the same.

Stokes, who spoke before the Test of “frustration” and “disappointment” at how his suspension with Atkinson had turned out, was given a warm welcome by the home crowd as his first bowl of the morning was received with great cheers.

The pair were ruled out of England’s second Test defeat at The Oval after breaking curfew at the west London nightclub where the incident took place in the early hours of June 8 as they celebrated the series-opening victory at Lord’s. They were later cleared of any wrongdoing following an investigation by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Independent Cricket Regulator.

Latham and Conway cashed in before the late wickets ran out

Chances were few and far between for England in what was, for the most part, a punishing first day in Nottingham, and they were wrong to ignore the rare openings they did make.

Latham, on 8, edged to third to Archer, the ball that followed after the man had been taken out of the cordon to gully.

England wasted an lbw review on Conway on 61, when Josh Tongue slipped well to leg, while failing to target Shoaib Bashir who would have opened on 71.

England opted not to send a DRS appeal for seeing the bat on the ball, but Conway’s inside edge was hit behind the pad first and the ball appeared to keep hitting the stumps.

Latham and Conway eventually moved on to their 17th and eighth Tests, and the pair began to pick up the tempo after doing so, coming into Bashir in particular as he hit the spinner for two sixes in three of his impressive innings.

The opening pair soon had 150s to their names, pushing their partnership past the 300 mark, before England eventually prevailed.

And then it was Stokes who provided it, letting out a loud roar of celebration that had some frustration mixed in with it, as Latham faded behind.

Conway then attempted one very big shot when he edged to deep midwicket in Root’s next over, suddenly giving England an opening and two new batsmen at the crease.

The second new ball was taken in the evening, but it looked as if Ravindra and Nicholls – fresh off his century in the visitors’ second Test win at The Oval – had set up a high score for the second day’s play until Atkinson and Archer’s late strikes gave England another chance to lift the lead in such conditions.

‘England’s latest boost’

Stuart Broad for Sky Sports Cricket:

“He always says in the dressing room ‘go ahead’.

“A little bit of pressure from England at the end of the day but there is no doubt that the first day of this Test was New Zealand’s.

“We don’t know what this stadium is going to do. It’s unusual for us in this country to get weather like this. It could play well for three days and then we don’t know.

“Runs in the first innings are important. New Zealand will be disappointed with their finish but they are in a very good position.”

Conway challenges New Zealand to ‘move on’

Devon Conway (157 off 224 balls), speaking to Sky Sports Cricket:

“It’s a good day for us. It’s good to build a partnership with Tom [Latham]. I’m very happy with the way things turned out for us.

“We knew the wicket was going to be good and we knew it was going to be important to put pressure on the bowling. It was nice to be there for a long time and build a partnership.

“I don’t know what par is [on this pitch]. It’s a bit disappointing to lose two wickets in the end but we have a lot of batsmen in the shed so hopefully we can kick on, continue to build those partnerships and see where we go.”

England vs New Zealand – results and schedule

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