{"id":760563,"date":"2026-06-26T01:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/760563\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T01:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:45:11","slug":"cricket-2026-england-v-new-zealand-third-test-tom-latham-and-devon-conway-record-opening-partnership-ben-stokes-wickets-at-trent-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/760563\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket 2026: England v New Zealand third Test, Tom Latham and Devon Conway record opening partnership, Ben Stokes wickets at Trent Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand\u2019s Tom Latham and Devon Conway broke a record that had stood for nearly a hundred years before England skipper Ben Stokes marked his return<\/a> to international duty by sparking a late fightback on the first day of the third and deciding Test at Trent Bridge.<\/p>\n

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The Black Caps were still well-placed on 4-361 at stumps on Thursday\u2019s opening day, with this three-match series all square at 1-1.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But they had been 0-317 while New Zealand captain Latham, capitalising on winning a good toss in sweltering heat, made 151 and fellow left-handed opener Conway 157 before they were both dismissed in the final session to spark a mini-collapse.<\/p>\n

The two 34-year-olds\u2019 partnership was the highest for any New Zealand wicket in a Test against England, surpassing the 276 shared by Stewie Dempster and Jackie Mills at Wellington back in 1930.<\/p>\n

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Not for the first time, however, it was Stokes, recalled alongside paceman Gus Atkinson after missing the hosts\u2019 crushing 253-run defeat in the second Test at the Oval for breaking a midnight curfew celebrating his side\u2019s win in the series opener at Lord\u2019s, who broke through for England.<\/p>\n

Seam-bowling all-rounder Stokes, almost by force of will, had Latham edging a good-length delivery and wicketkeeper Jamie Smith, who had dropped the New Zealand skipper on 129 after sitting out New Zealand\u2019s mammoth victory at the Oval on paternity leave, made no mistake.<\/p>\n

England\u2019s 1-317 became 2-319 in the next over when Conway holed out to part-time off-spinner Joe Root, with substitute fielder Matt Fisher taking a fine running catch at long-on.<\/p>\n

Rachin Ravindra carelessly skyed Atkinson to Smith and next ball Henry Nicholls, fresh from his century at the Oval, fell for 36 to what became the last ball of the day when caught behind off fast bowler Jofra Archer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so funny in cricket, you get one and then you get two,\u201d former England fast bowler Stuart Broad said on Sky Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat gave England a sniff and given how the day has panned out, they will be happy with four wickets.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the day still belonged to New Zealand, with Conway telling Sky Sports he was \u201cpretty happy with the way things have gone\u201d.<\/p>\n

New Zealand’s Tom Latham celebrates reaching his century.Source: AP<\/p>\n

Latham and Conway\u2019s four previous partnerships this series \u2013 two, nought, 14 and eight \u2014 gave no indication of the pair\u2019s run-spree on Thursday but they cashed in on ideal batting conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew that the wicket was going to be quite nice,\u201d said Conway, who made a round trip of 23,000-miles (37,000 kilometre) to New Zealand between the first and second Tests to see his newborn baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was important for us to put pressure on the bowling.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt\u2019s a little disappointing to have lost two wickets at the end but we\u2019ve got a lot of batters in the shed so hopefully we can kick on.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ben Stokes of England celebrates with teammate Jacob Bethell after taking the wicket of Tom Latham.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Recalled off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, who hadn\u2019t bowled in a Test in more than a year, almost had Conway out for 18 when a mistimed a drive off a well-flighted delivery just evaded a diving Root at short extra-cover.<\/p>\n

Stokes brought himself on, to cheers from the crowd, for the 20th over, with New Zealand 0-64 but Conway drove his second ball for four.<\/p>\n

Latham completed a 149-ball hundred with successive boundaries off Stokes \u2014 a slashing cut followed by a leg-glance. It was his 17th century in 95 Tests.<\/p>\n

New Zealand were 0-213 at tea, with Latham 109 not out and Conway unbeaten on 94.<\/p>\n

During the afternoon session, Stokes neglected to review an LBW shout that would have been overturned, with replays showing the ball had struck Conway\u2019s pad before his bat.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou wondered, then, if Stokes\u2019s touch was failing him,\u201d The Guardian\u2019s<\/a> Andy Bull wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does not really do self-doubt, but watching all this, it felt like he was still feeling his way back into leading this team after letting them down in the past fortnight. He seemed less sure of himself than usual.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were no canny bowling changes, no funky fields. He even made a couple of uncharacteristic misfields, one a particularly ugly one at mid-off when he stooped to pick up a ball and missed it altogether to give away a single.\u201d<\/p>\n

Devon Conway hits a boundary during a monster opening partnership with Tom Latham.Source: AFP<\/p>\n

Conway got to his eighth hundred in 36 Tests with consecutive fours off Bashir, lofting him over wide long-on and square-driving him through point.<\/p>\n

He then struck superb sixes in successive overs, lofting a Bashir full-toss high over deep midwicket and pulling Tongue over long leg.<\/p>\n

Conway was on 130 when a diving Ben Duckett could only get the tips of his fingers to a tough chance at square leg.<\/p>\n

Latham, however, should have been out for 129 when he gloved Atkinson down the legside only for Smith to miss the routine chance as the ball went straight through his gloves and hit his chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cA little bit of momentum from England at the back end of the day but there isn\u2019t any doubt the first day of this Test match belonged to New Zealand,\u201d Broad added.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst-innings runs are a premium. New Zealand will be disappointed with the finish they had but they are still in an excellent position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former New Zealand fast bowler Simon Doull added on the Sky Sports podcast: \u201cNew Zealand would be very disappointed if they\u2019re not somewhere in the vicinity of 550.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd England should feel pretty good about their performance if it\u2019s anything under 500.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a blazing hot, flat wicket, a home ground for Ben Duckett. We know what Joe Root does at this ground. He could set his tent up and just bat for a day and a half on this type of surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s Tom Latham and Devon Conway broke a record that had stood for nearly a hundred years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-760563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}