Key events
WICKET! Jofra Archer c Blundell b Henry 8 (England 236-8)
Archer is caught behind from a loose poke outside off and England are nearly all done for here. Matt Henry wheels away in celebration of his fourth wicket, sharp catch by Tom Blundell behind the sticks.
63rd over: England 236-7 (Archer 8, Fisher 1)An unmistakeable waft of Ambre Solaire hits my nostrils. Delightful. Matthew Fisher has something else up and around his nose, a series of short balls from Kyle Jamieson. He does well to duck and sway, one ball thuds into his right flank as he doesn’t get out of the way quick enough but he survives the over, a maiden.
62nd over: England 236-7 (Archer 8, Fisher 1)Matthew Fisher is the new batter, England still trail by 155 runs. Close! Fisher pokes at his first ball and the edge falls this short of first slip. He’s off the mark next ball with a drop into the off side. Eeeeesht! Archer is very nearly pinned LBW by Henry but an inside edge saves him. Henry has his dander up and looks dangerous every ball.
WICKET! Jordan Cox c Latham b Henry 27 (England 235-7)
Gah! Cox is livid with himself after he whips a straight ball in the air and gifts his wicket away! Latham takes a sharp but simple catch at short midwicket and Cox has to depart. He spits his gum and middles it with his blade as he stomps from the middle. He middled the shot he got out to too… but straight to the man.
61st over: England 235-6 (Cox 27, Archer 8)Jamieson was a bit off the boil yesterday and his fortunes don’t look too much brighter in the early stages of day three. Archer drives solidly and holds the pose as the ball beats the fielder and goes for four and then follows up with a castanet crack of a cut shot for four more. Short and wide from Jamieson, nicht gut.
60th over: England 227-6 (Cox 27, Archer 0)Shot! Cox flicks his wrists on a half volley from Matt Henry and the ball traces away for four across the baking square. Lovely timing on that.
59th over: England 223-6 (Cox 23, Archer 0) It will be intriguing to see how Cox plays this morning, I have a feeling we might see some dashing strokeplay if he can hang around for a few overs and get settled. Jamieson is back of a length, Cox lets one pass by and then defends with a straight bat to mid off. The Oval is thrumming with excitement and plenty of folk can be spied applying a thick layer of sun cream, there isn’t a lot of shade here at the moment. A cheer greets Cox and England’s first run of the day, a guide to point for single off the final delivery.
Righto, here come the players, Kyle Jamieson is going to start with the ball. Jordan Cox on strike. The game on the line. Let’s play.
Just read this beautiful piece from my pal Jon Hottenwho watched Rew and Cox make their way for the first time in Test cricket from a lofty perch (lah-di-dah) here at the Oval:
double quotation mark Yesterday at the Oval, James Rew walked out to bat as England’s number six. The score was 170-4, and, disconcertingly, he had to pass Joe Root, who was stomping off having reviewed a marginal leg before decision and not much enjoyed the result. Has there ever, in the history of the game, been such a disparity between outgoing batter and the incoming one? Root had just fallen to the 24,327th delivery he received in Test cricket. Rew, as if he needed reminding, was yet to face a single ball. What would he give, at that moment, for just one of Root’s 13,998 runs?Tom Blundell remained up to the stumps. Matt Henry switched to around the wicket. It must have been an out-of-body experience for James Rew, that first delivery. No matter how you prepare, how long you have visualised the moment, it can’t have been like this, not 170-4 on a muggy afternoon at the Oval, the captain out, the early serenity of the afternoon’s play broken open, this lifetime’s dream now a visceral reality.”
Today is A Day for Thorpey at the Oval. You can find out all about it here.
What a player. Much missed.
double quotation mark Thorpe’s in” or “Thorpe’s still in” were words that always provided some solace in the back seats. Thorpe was a headbanded and hard-bitten nugget of hope. A zinc-lipped beacon. A “Kookaburra Bubble” stickered mast on which to cling as England found themselves taking on wave after wave of all-time great bowlers. Be it night or day, seam or spin, lost cause, dead rubber or soul stirring victory – Graham Thorpe was batting.Against a rolling backdrop of Cornhill Insurance, npower girls, spindly gasometers, snow-capped mountains and Tetley Beer hoardings – Graham Thorpe was batting. Against Australia, West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park and the aliens of Independence Day – Graham Thorpe was batting. During Labour landslides, Knebworth singalongs, through BSE, foot and mouth and Millennium Bugs. Somehow, Graham Thorpe was batting the entirety of the decade.”
The players are on the outfield warming up here at the Oval, not that they really need to, it is ‘Scorchio!’
A couple of Kiwi squad members do some sprint training about 80 metres away from my seat in the outdoor press box. Good on them, I’m going to find some coffee.
Could the Ben Stokes saga be nearing a sensible conclusion?
Andy Bull wrote about Sonny Baker’s second day as a Test cricketer:
double quotation mark But the next morning was a lesson, if he needed it, that Test cricket turns on you pretty quick. Root had decided Baker should open the bowling. His first ball flew high and wide for four byes down the leg side, his second shot away off the outside edge of Glenn Phillips’s bat for four more.His second over started with a ball that was thumped through point by Kyle Jamieson, who bats, nowadays, like Paul Bunyan setting about a forest of Redwoods. The next was another boundary, slashed over the top of the wicketkeeper. And then Baker got him to pull one high out towards deep midwicket.
Baker threw his hands up in celebration at the catch, then dropped them again as he watched Ben Duckett fumble it. Just to rub it in, Jamieson took the single while this was happening, and Phillips carted Baker’s next delivery away square. At this point he had conceded five boundaries in 10 deliveries. The game was running away from him as if it was on a flywheel.”
Catch up on the day two action with Ali Martin’s report:
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to ‘moving day’ at the Oval. The sky is show off blue in South London and the sun is already beating down, if ever there was a day for batting, batting and batting some more then this is patently it.
England need runs. A flat and at times downright confused morning in the field yesterday saw Glenn Phillips score his maiden Test century and New Zealand post a decent first innings score of 391-6. Joe Root’s men will resume on 222-6 this morning with the whole kit and caboodle back in the sheds… apart from Jordan Cox on Test match debut.
Cox was nervy last night but managed to get through to the close and earn the opportunity to bat in heaven sent conditions this morning. His fellow debutant James Rew will be wishing he had done the same instead of instinctively hooking to an O’Rourke short ball and departing amongst the long shadows.
Cox has 22 to his name and Jofra Archer for company, England trail by 169 and need one of their debutants to dig them out of a hole.
Play begins at 11am, join us.
