{"id":498556,"date":"2026-06-27T18:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/498556\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T18:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T18:18:09","slug":"black-caps-v-england-rachin-ravindra-bowlers-set-platform-for-new-zealand-to-push-for-series-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/498556\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Caps v England: Rachin Ravindra, bowlers set platform for New Zealand to push for series win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ravindra\u2019s innings was a timely reminder of his quality, now standing tall as New Zealand\u2019s premier batter in the wake of Kane Williamson\u2019s retirement<\/a>, with 32 of his runs coming in boundaries, including a series of drives against the new ball. <\/p>\n

And with minimal time pressure, given a maximum of 180 overs left to be bowled, the Black Caps will be able to play at their own pace when play resumes on day four. <\/p>\n

With England taking day two honours and resuming at 223-2 \u2013 215 runs behind \u2013 a young Black Caps seam attack stood up to stop the hosts batting New Zealand out of the contest.<\/p>\n

Smith struck twice, removing Joe Root (21) LBW to break the overnight partnership, before namesake Jamie Smith (1) was caught at slip. At the other end, England\u2019s other overnight batter was dismissed without adding to his score, as Jacob Bethell (74) edged O\u2019Rourke to second slip to leave the hosts 234-5.<\/p>\n

Ben Stokes added a 50-stand in just 55 deliveries with Harry Brook, that saw England avoid the follow-on, but couldn\u2019t capitalise when Foulkes was able to seam a ball back through his defence, and bowl the opposing captain for one. <\/p>\n

Batting with the tail, Brook stood as the key to England taking a first innings lead, and reached 50 in 65 deliveries, with five boundaries, before he also fell to a Foulkes nipbacker when he was bowled for 58.<\/p>\n

The pair of Gus Atkinson (23) and Jofra Archer (15) frustrated the Black Caps, surviving 72 deliveries together, and reduced the deficit to less than 100. But once the new ball came, Smith, O\u2019Rourke and Foulkes all had one more wicket apiece to wrap the innings up, as England\u2019s last three batters fell within four runs of each other. <\/p>\n

Ahead by 84, the Black Caps opening pair couldn\u2019t repeat their first day heroics<\/a>, as Tom Latham (4) was pinned LBW, before Devon Conway was caught at slip \u2013 both off Archer (2-14) \u2013 to leave New Zealand 12-2. <\/p>\n

As a promising sign for the fourth innings, Conway\u2019s dismissal saw him victim to a ball that reared off a length to take the edge, after he was hit on the helmet by a similar ball. Henry Nicholls survived an edge between slip and keeper off Josh Tongue, but couldn\u2019t escape one over later when Atkinson (1-25) drew another mistake that was accepted by Brook.<\/p>\n

\"RachinRachin Ravindra bats on day three of the third test between the Black Caps and England in Nottingham. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

But from 51-3, Ravindra took the sting out of England\u2019s attack. The left-hander hit seven boundaries on his way to a half-century in 81 deliveries, as the second time he\u2019s passed 50 in the series after his vital second innings at The Oval.<\/p>\n

He was joined by Mitchell, who was the more cautious of the pair as they added a 50-stand in 97 balls to blunt England before the close. Mitchell was fortunate to not be bowled leaving a Shoaib Bashir off-break that turned before taking the back of the bat close to the stumps.<\/p>\n

That, though, should give England more cause for concern than the Black Caps, as a fourth innings chase to decide the victor looms. <\/p>\n

New Zealand 438 & 120-3 (Ravindra 60 not out; Archer 2-14)<\/p>\n

England 354 (Duckett 113; Smith 4-91)<\/p>\n

New Zealand lead by 204 runs<\/p>\n

Alex Powell<\/a> is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ravindra\u2019s innings was a timely reminder of his quality, now standing tall as New Zealand\u2019s premier batter in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[249220,7022,74281,1565,42574,1634,4522,2082,7240,117,111,43,139,248567,69,1523,3545,15400,109012,109013,7248,1963,1551,243060,765,1529,61,246907,8982,1533,6027,102,80],"class_list":["post-498556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-204run","tag-black","tag-bowlers","tag-bridge","tag-caps","tag-england","tag-feel","tag-for","tag-lead","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nottinghams","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-platform","tag-push","tag-rachin","tag-ravindra","tag-seat","tag-series","tag-set","tag-stumps","tag-test","tag-three","tag-to","tag-trent","tag-victory","tag-will","tag-win","tag-with","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}