England tests debutants as New Zealand batsmen hold steady in second Test

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Updates from the fourth day’s play at the Oval Get in touch! Share your thoughts with Tim Morning everyone, or should that be hello darkness, my old friend? For England supporters of a certain age, this match has been a flashback to the Eighties. First the management picked the wrong response to Ben Stokes’ and Gus Atkinson’s big night out, suspending them when Harry Brook had merely been fined for a worse offence, perhaps because the ECB was afraid of looking weak. Then, just as fortune favours the brave, so misfortune homed in on the faint-hearted. England lost the Player of the Match from Lord’s, Ollie Robinson, to injury and their wicketkeeper, Jamie Smith, to the birth of his second child. Suddenly the team had no spine – no captain, no keeper, no new-ball pair. The selectors put their faith in what Micky Stewart, whose name is on the pavilion at the Oval, once called “a lot of inexperience”. Joe Root found himself not so much the stand-in captain as the babysitter. Continue reading...

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Updates from the second day’s play at the Oval Day one report | Sign up for the Spin | Mail Taha Well, that was nice: a semi-normal day of Test cricket, wickets in single figures, enough there for the quicks, New Zealand’s batters able to get in … with only Glenn Phillips still on course to go big. Of course, this isn’t a normal Test at all for England, with three debutants in the mix alongside an interim captain. Sonny Baker got to show off his wheels yesterday, firing the ball in at the toes, highlighting his value on this stage after a couple of torrid white-ball appearances. He’s still got work to do this morning, though; Joe Root may well turn to him to help wipe out the tail. And then, potentially, a glimpse at the new shiny toys at six and seven. Continue reading...

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Updates from the third day’s play at the Oval Day two report | Sign up for the Spin | Mail James Catch up on the day two action with Ali Martin’s report: 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. Continue reading...