England 140 (Brook 56, Jamieson 5-62) and 226 (Gay 57, Smith 6-70) lead New Zealand 113 (Robinson 5-39) by 253 runs
New Zealand will need 254, the highest score of the match, to win the first Test at Lord’s after England‘s recovery from a dramatic mid-innings collapse. Nathan Smith, who took his second six-wicket haul in as many Tests, prompted a flurry of four wickets in 11 balls on the second afternoon, but Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson and Ollie Robinson dragged them to 226 all out.England were effectively 116 for 1 and cruising when Jacob Bethell lost his off stump to a grubber from Matt Henry that shot underneath his bat, and Emilio Gay‘s dismissal for 57 – his maiden Test fifty, on England debut – precipitated an extraordinary collapse under floodlights and gloomy skies on a Lord’s pitch that was loaded heavily in the seamers’ favour.
After Gay edged Nathan Smith’s outswinger behind, Harry Brook was smashed on the knee roll by Will O’Rourke’s booming inswinger and given out lbw. Joe Root was trapped on the pad by the first ball of Smith’s subsequent over and while Stokes survived the hat-trick ball, he lost his off stump to his third ball as England lost four for one.
Stokes shook his head in apparent disbelief on his way off and while the ball that dismissed him did not move extravagantly, the Lord’s pitch – which has offered significant seam movement for both sides’ bowlers, as well as variable bounce – came under mounting scrutiny. Neither side used a spinner across the first three innings, with 30 wickets falling to seam in 125.3 overs.
England’s middle-order batters were indebted to a 57-run eighth-wicket stand between Jamie Smith and Atkinson – the highest partnership of the match on either side – as their final four wickets added 99 runs. Jamie Smith, promoted to No. 6, counter-punched before tea before he was beaten by his namesake’s inducker, while Robinson cracked a quick 30 from No. 9.
New Zealand may rue a series of missed opportunities before England’s collapse. Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway both dropped catches for the second day in a row – today, Ravindra reprieved Ben Duckett at short midwicket, and Conway gave Bethell a life at gully – while Gay would have been out for 24 if Tom Latham had reviewed an lbw shout.
Duckett was eventually held in the gully by Glenn Phillips, slicing at O’Rourke one ball after bringing up the first – and so far, only – fifty-run partnership of the match with Gay as England took a 99-run lead into the lunch break while one wicket down. They held an identical advantage at the same stage of the first Ashes Test last winter, and managed to lose the match that day.
Robinson led his team-mates off after just under an hour’s bowling on the second morning after bowling last man Henry to complete a five-wicket haul on his Test comeback, with New Zealand bowled out for 113 and trailing by 27 on first innings.
Jamie Smith made 39 after England suffered a collapse•Philip Brown/PA Images via Getty Images
Kyle Jamieson, fresh from a first-innings five-for, top-scored with 38 not out off 29 balls – including a straight six launched into the Pavilion, and consecutive pull shots into the Grandstand when Robinson dropped short – after Phillips’ counter-attacking 34 was cut short by Josh Tongue’s first ball of the morning, which uprooted his off stump.
Tongue took his third wicket when Nathan Smith offered no shot to a ball that jagged back sharply into his off stump, and Atkinson successfully bluffed O’Rourke, who edged a full ball to slip with the field set for bumpers.
Henry walked in at No. 11 after back spasms limited him to a single four-over spell on the first day and while he was deemed fit enough to bowl on the second, he looked short of his best with his pace often dropping below 80mph/129kph.
It left New Zealand’s three other seamers with a heavy workload, which they shouldered manfully. Jamieson had Atkinson caught-and-bowled after tea as he miscued a flat-batted swipe straight up, before Smith finished the innings off by bowling Jamie Smith and Tongue, then having Robinson caught at midwicket.
Matt Roller is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98