{"id":499783,"date":"2026-06-28T15:58:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T15:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/499783\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T15:58:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T15:58:28","slug":"england-new-zealand-decider-gets-twist-on-day-4-as-stokes-announces-retirement-amid-mitchell-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/499783\/","title":{"rendered":"England-New Zealand decider gets twist on Day 4 as Stokes announces retirement amid Mitchell charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) \u2014 The series-deciding test between England and New Zealand got a dramatic twist before tea on Sunday when news of England captain Ben Stokes\u2019 impending retirement<\/a> was announced, just before he took a wicket in his bid to slow the tourists\u2019 charge for victory at Trent Bridge.<\/p>\n

New Zealand reached the interval on 234-8 and with a lead of 318 runs \u2014 but with the headlines being dominated not by Daryl Mitchell, who was 63 not out, but by Stokes.<\/p>\n

About 15 minutes before tea, an England statement was published saying Stokes would be retiring from England duty at the end of the match in Nottingham, bringing to a close his 15-year international career.<\/p>\n

With his first ball after the announcement, Stokes sent down a delivery that was edged by Zak Foulkes to second slip where the catch was taken by Harry Brook, the man likely to take over as England test captain.<\/p>\n

It was quite the symbolic moment.<\/p>\n

Stokes led the team to the dressing room at the end of the session to a standing ovation from fans \u2014 and he\u2019ll need to produce one final effort to lead England to an unlikely victory that would clinch the series.<\/p>\n

New Zealand resumed after lunch on 180-4 and would soon lose three wickets for two runs in 10 balls, leaving the tourists on 206-7. Stokes took one of them \u2014 Mitchell Santner for 0 \u2014 and later removed Foulkes.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Rachin Ravindra was out for 94, just short of his sixth test century, to end a partnership of 129 runs for the fourth wicket with Mitchell.<\/p>\n

Not since 1999 has New Zealand won a series in England of three tests or more but it is a big favorite now on a deteriorating pitch.<\/p>\n

The English haven\u2019t lost a home series of three tests or more since 2012. If they do, there would be more pressure on the team\u2019s leadership after a humiliating 4-1 Ashes series defeat and subsequent concerns about its professionalism in the wake of the dropping of Stokes and Gus Atkinson for the second test for a disciplinary matter.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP cricket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/cricket<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) \u2014 The series-deciding test between England and New Zealand got a dramatic twist before tea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[131623,16558,136149,1634,234474,65548,162940,111,43,139,69,213,249815,249816],"class_list":["post-499783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-ben-stokes","tag-cricket","tag-daryl-mitchell","tag-england","tag-gus-atkinson","tag-harry-brook","tag-mitchell-santner","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-sports-retirements","tag-zak-foulkes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499783","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=499783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}