Second inning, 1st inning: New Zealand 3-0 (Latham 3, Young 0) No break for Jonny Bairstow; he is grabbing his gloves with Ben Foakes who has a back problem. Tom Latham takes New Zealand off the mark, with a single and a double on Broad.
Thus, halfway through, England advances with 31 runs. Which is a bit like saying that Rohan’s army has just overshadowed the battle of Helm’s Deep. New Zealanders will have 20 minutes or so to see it before lunch.
England all for 360!
Southee goes fuller to finish the finale and seems to have hooked Leach lbw. Review, more hopefully than not. It is in the lead, and the 67-entry England roller coaster is over.
Updated at 12.36 BST
66th over: England 359-9 (Potts 0, Leach 8) Bairstow faces a standing ovation, but there is barely time to process this double advance for New Zealand before Jack Leach is out there, creating two consecutive boundaries.
Updated at 12.29 BST
WICKET! Bairstow c Boult b Bracewell 162 (England 351-9)
And with the next ball, Bracewell finally evicted Jonny Bairstow! Trapped a little out of position by a wider ball, the batsman doesn’t do enough, and Boult runs to claim it.
Trent Boult gets 4 ports. Photo: Allan McKenzie / SWpix.com / REX / Shutterstock
Updated at 12.33 BST
WICKET! Broad b Southee 42 (England 351-8)
Williamson has a quick word with Southee, who quickly sends a regulation ball crunching towards the stump, with almost no reaction from anyone on the ground.
Southee plays Broad. Photography: Robbie Stephenson / JMP / REX / Shutterstock
Updated at 12.32 BST
65th more: England 351-7 (Bairstow 162, Broad 42) Southee looked dangerous again in her last over, but Broad makes more hay here, splashing the covers and padding another for four legs. Worrying times for New Zealand …
“A little cruel, but can we now refer to him as Jamie Slightlyunderton?” Nick Williamson plays.
“England have discovered a suitable whole,” notes Ewan Glenton. “JOverton avs 97 with bat, 85 with ball. The real deal. “
Updated at 12.18 BST
64th more: England 339-7 (Bairstow 162, Broad 34) Bracewell re-enters for the first time since today’s opening. He appeals wholeheartedly as Broad drops his first ball, but no one else seems convinced. The next ball, a big Broad advantage twists between Blundell and Mitchell: Remember them? – and runs out for four. Finally, a coup attempt on Bracewell’s head ends up whistling between the bowler’s fingers. An over of pure, uncut vibrations from Broad.
63rd on: England 332-7 (Bairstow 161, Broad 28) Tim Southee returns to attack, with a discouraging 1-90. The field stretches far and wide … but from around the harbor, it keeps Broad firmly at the back foot. Bairstow strikes, and knocks dangerously off the stump. Some unexpected threat from Southee, there.
“I got ahead here, but there are still 19 overs left for the new ball,” Andy Bradshaw points out.
62nd: England 331-7 (Bairstow 161, Broad 28) Stuart Broad is already England’s third highest scorer in this entry. He has also surpassed the England opening quartet together, and both overs.
In the meantime, I don’t know where Trent Boult is on the existential bowling alley, but he’s still giving it his all. Would you expect less? Drinking time.
61st more: England 329-7 (Bairstow 160, Broad 26) Wagner to Broad, who chooses a straight line in the long run, and then draws another six from the party. And with that, the results are matched! England was fifty-five by six.
60th Plus: England 317-7 (Bairstow 159, Broad 15) Broad has been happily mowing in the village style, but is now beginning to connect intentionally. Two boundaries were broken in quick succession, and then a six, belt over Boult’s head and toward the restless customers who put themselves under Overton’s skin.
Stuart Broad of England bats. Photography: Alex Davidson / Getty Images
Updated at 12.25 BST
“Goodbye Jamie Overton, the Spud we liked,” Dan writes. “Well done, you’ve played off your skin.”
59th Final: England 300-7 (Bairstow 158, Broad 0) Is it time for YJB to completely release the handbrake? It seems like this, another blunt start from Wagner that takes England beyond the 300. The hosts ’path only makes 28 runs.
58th on: England 296-7 (Bairstow 153, Broad 0) Swing and Broad fails, but sees out. The Bairstow-Overton partnership finally breaks down after 241 executions.
Bairstow approaches to throw an arm around Overton, who escapes with a standing ovation. As cruel as it is to him, Boult deserved something for his efforts so far this morning. Who’s next to calm things down? It is Stuart Broad …
WICKET! J Overton v Mitchell b Boult 97 (England 296-7)
Oh no. Jamie Overton is a disaffection, with Boult’s relentless pressure bearing fruit as the batsman goes in search of a limit, and approaches Daryl Mitchell, who puts himself intelligently into it.
Updated at 11.42 BST
57th over: England 295-6 (Bairstow 152, J Overton 97) The Bairstow 150 is the second fastest of an England batsman in a Test Match, just behind his current captain. Now, can Overton reach his own milestone? He pulls a very wide one to approach a race.
Updated at 11.44 BST
150 for Bairstow! Outside of Neil Wagner’s bowling, Bairstow’s ball is well placed by Williamson, but Bairstow gallops for two anyway, and then starts in a celebration loop around the harbor. He absolutely loves life, and why shouldn’t he?
56th more: England 290-6 (Bairstow 148, J Overton 96) Bairstow and Overton raise their arms frustrated by more upward movement on the hospitality poles. Overton expertly channels his irritation, finding the void to move within four of what could be an extraordinary century.
55th final: England 286-6 (Bairstow 148, J Overton 92) Boult finishes the previous one with a shot at Overton, but has no joy, to the relief of the poor soul of Sky’s control room who had cut an ad to ball early.
Southee continues, and Overton approaches with a single complete dive as Williamson escapes the stumps. Then a Bairstow beauty, directed between half and half with surgical precision.
54th more: England 278-6 (Bairstow 141, J Overton 91) Four! The West Terrace comes to life as Bairstow blows Boult contemptuously through the roofs. Which reminds me that this is a good statistic:
Shahid AfridiBrendon McCullum Jonny Bairstow
Men’s test batsmen to do consecutive test tons, while surpassing 100 with a hit percentage of 100 or more #ENGvNZ #bbccricket
– Mark Puttick (@GryllidaeC) June 24, 2022
53rd Above: England 270-6 (Bairstow 134, J Overton 91) An early single from Bairstow puts Overton on strike, and Southee pushes him forward with a wide delivery approaching down the harbor. New Zealand offers many threats, but there is still no progress.
52nd envelope: England 269-6 (Bairstow 133, J Overton 91) There is a brief pause when Overton pulls out a new pill: he damaged the old one by jumping to make the fold. Only one for Bracewell, when Boult returns. Overton climbs one of the shortest edges of the slides and sinks into another. She’s on her 90s nerves, okay, and that’s a maiden for Boult.
51st more: England 269-6 (Bairstow 133, J Overton 91) Tim Southee is next, hoping the strong breeze blowing Headingley can add a bit of a threat to his players. Overton plays one and fails, before Bairstow makes a risky double. He then leaves the final ball of the over, which climbs dangerously close to the stump. Things that get on your nerves already.
“I was intrigued by Jonathan Liew’s excellent piece on Trent Boult, in which he compared baptism to the cycle of death, while bowling was about (re) birth,” writes Brian Withington.
“Does it excite me to wonder where fielding is on the existential plane? Is it perhaps the Great Sleep that precedes or follows life (especially if you are posted on the thin leg and in the middle)?”
50th: England 266-6 (Bairstow 131, J Overton 90) Bairstow on strike and New Zealand start with Michael Bracewell’s turn. It will be 31 more until tourists can get their hands on the new ball. One for the batsmen, Overton entering the 90s.
Play!
Here we go, then. Players are in Headingley, where the sun shines intermittently. England bounced back with 264-6, behind New Zealand with 65 runs. It’s in play!
This image will pursue my dreams …
Photography: Mike Egerton / PA
More reactions to Friday’s action here. Remember Jack Leach?
“This game should ideally end with Stokes and Root in the fold, winning it with a limit,” says John Starbuck. “What could go wrong?”
You can contact me by email or by tweeting @niallmcveigh. And here is the link for TMS, if you are outside the UK.
Start the day with Jonathan Liew at Trent Boult, Bowling and Rebirth.
If baptism is analogous to the cycle of existence and death, then bowling is more like the miracle of fertilization and birth. The odds of success are infinitesimal, and yet you keep trying and failing, swimming indomitable against the current, fighting for the prize of life itself. That’s why, mentally speaking, batsmen end their career drawn and hollow, while bowling becomes stronger and stronger. The batsmen are constantly dying. Bowling players are constantly reborn.
Preamble
Aren’t you entertained? With the series already won, Ben Stokes promised excitement in this third and final test, and his team has fulfilled it. Yesterday he had the feeling that the wheels were coming off the jalopy, six wickets down with 55 runs on the board and 12 overs played. But maybe it was all part of the plan.
At Trent Bridge, Jonny Bairstow’s 136 of 92 balls spun the second test with the hosts. Before Headingley, his captain looked at his glass ball. “At some point this week, we have to do it with the ball or the bat. So I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw something similar to what Jonny did last week.
And here we are, with the revitalized Bairstow …