England v New Zealand: second Test, day three – live! | Sport

18th over: England 59-5 (Root 5, Bracey 1) James Bracey has decided to look busy, more of a Pope than a Root. He clips Wagner off his toes, but can only find the man in front of square. Then he plays the same shot a fraction earlier, into a bit of space, and takes the most welcome run of his life. Edgbaston rises to him with a cheer that is not quite ironic – more sympathetic. He takes it well, with a rueful smile.

Poor Dan Lawrence. This game had been going so well for him, with his 81 and his first Test scalp. O cricket, thou art a cruel mistress.

Another one! Lawrence has a nibble outside off, second ball, and the innings defeat is now looming over England like a threatening boss. They are still 27 behind, and the next man in has never made an international run.

17th over: England 58-4 (Root 5, Lawrence 0) Tom Latham, who is finding Test captaincy rather a doddle, decides to bring on his spinner, Ajaz Patel. He starts with a tidy maiden to Root, who is finding everything difficult and has now faced 40 balls.

16th over: England 58-4 (Root 5, Lawrence 0) England are now in deep … trouble.

“I really do feel for Crawley,” says Colum Fordham. “He looked as if he was batting himself out of his slump, playing a couple of delightful drives with the sort of confidence that suggested a major innings. At least this cameo showed signs of his class.

“A lot rests on the broad shoulders of Root and the youthful promise of Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence, who a friend of mine Jeff, a fellow cricket fan and himself a handy batsman in his youth, really rates. Let’s hope they can set New Zealand a target.” That would be the bare minimum.

Yes, umpire’s call, and as it had been given, Pope has to go. Another crying shame: he was the life and soul of the party, but now his Uber has arrived and he’s off home, to be greeted by a plate of cold lasagne.

Rapped by the inswinger. This is either too high or umpire’s call…

15th over: England 53-3 (Root 5, Pope 19) Finally warming to the task, Root pushes Henry past mid-off for three to bring up the fifty. Pope, not to be overshadowed, gets three too, with a flick through midwicket.

“Henry vs Pope,” says Paul Billington. “It’s the 16th century all over again!” Ha. We’re halfway to The Six Wickets of Henry the Ace.

14th over: England 47-3 (Root 2, Pope 16) On comes Neil Wagner, to put a dampener on things. He made no runs earlier and he concedes none off his first five balls, before Root doubles his score with a tuck off the pads. The crowd, meanwhile, are singing “Football’s coming home”.

13th over: England 46-3 (Root 1, Pope 16) Pope, still buzzing, plays another off push, for two this time, followed by a cover drive for four – very Ian Bell. And then a whip for two.

I have a friend who says that when she and her husband go out to a party (in normal times), they look as if they’re attending quite different events. Root and Pope are a bit like that at the moment. Pope is the life and soul, Root the grumpy uncle who’s been asked to babysit.

12th over: England 38-3 (Root 1, Pope 8) Pope edges Boult and gets away with it as it squirts through the slips for four. Then he flirts with a catch to square leg, clipping a bit uppishly. Root may need to calm him down, and Pope may want to pep Root up – his score of one has come off 24 balls.

11th over: England 33-3 (Root 1, Pope 3) In comes Ollie Pope, and he gets well forward to push his first ball through mid-off for a purposeful three. England are minus 55 for three, and in the doghouse.

Anyone else feeling a bit crushed about Crawley? I was willing him to make a score, for three reasons. First, because it’s never good to see any sportsperson having a miserable run. Second, because he saves England’s top three from being boring. And third, because I wrote that Wisden profile of him and found him, as he walked me twice round the Spitfire St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, very likeable.

Yes, a row of reds. It was the nip-backer and Crawley played outside it. He had been striking the ball beautifully, but that may only be a minor consolation.

This looks out, unless the impact is outside off.

10th over: England 30-2 (Crawley 17, Root 1) Crawley goes back to Boult and works him to midwicket for three, very nicely.

9th over: England 27-2 (Crawley 14, Root 1) Root, facing Henry, tries to guide one through the cordon, but it’s well stopped by Nicholls, diving to his left. Then Root is beaten outside off, but again it dies before reaching Tom Blundell. This pitch is not quite as flat as it’s been cracked up to be.

8th over: England 27-2 (Crawley 14, Root 1) At the other end, Root is facing Boult and keeping out the straight ones for all he’s worth. He gets off the mark, and the strike, with a bit of tip’n’run into the on side. England are minus 58 for two.

7th over: England 26-2 (Crawley 14, Root 0) Matt Henry has the ball again and if he did have some cake, it hasn’t slowed him down at all. He beats Crawley with a bit of nip off the seam; the ball dies on the keeper and goes for four byes. Crawley then unfurls another of his sumptuous drives, just to the umpire’s right this time. With 14 off 23 balls, he has his highest score in seven innings since that sizzling 53 at Ahmedabad.

Look away now if you’re planning to watch the Wales game on catch-up. They went 1-0 down to Switzerland but fought back to draw, which seems a very respectable start. Join the great Scott Murray for the details – or stay here to see if England, too, can dig themselves out of a hole.

6th over: England 18-2 (Crawley 10, Root 0) Crawley reaches double figures! With a push into the covers off Boult, who then very nearly bamboozles Root – it’s a big inswinger, and he only escapes an LBW by getting a leading edge. And that’s tea, with NZ lording it at Edgbaston. The first slice of cake will go to Matt Henry, who has figures of 3-1-7-2. England are still 67 behind and an innings defeat cannot yet be ruled out.

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5th over: England 17-2 (Crawley 9, Root 0) You’ve got to feel for Joe Root, who can’t even get half an hour’s peace before tea.

Meanwhile Brian Withington is back for more. “Having exhausted the maths of Jimmy’s strides and the speed of grass, in the spirit of further scientific enquiry I’ve been doing some fundamental technical analysis of why NZ are so successful at cricket. It turns out that they are rather good at batting, bowling and catching. Who would have thought, eh?” Very droll. They’re good at a few other things too, including public relations, setting targets, and accepting things that go against them by the barest of margins.

Another one! Pushed back by a lifter and squared up too, Sibley can only fend to third slip. Henry has nabbed both openers, and England are now flirting with an innings defeat.

4th over: England 17-1 (Sibley 8, Crawley 9) Crawley’s confidence, in a bad trot, is admirable, but it becomes too much of a good thing as he wafts at Boult. Undaunted, he sees a half-volley and hits the creamiest of off-drives for four. Boult curls one back in and almost breaks through, but Crawley stabs down on it in time. Good contest.

3rd over: England 13-1 (Sibley 8, Crawley 5) Crawley takes a quick single, always a good sign and something England haven’t done enough this year. Sibley plays a guide for four to third man. He has eight off nine balls, which is a whole lot better than the stuff he made us sit through on Sunday.

2nd over: England 8-1 (Sibley 4, Crawley 4) On comes Trent Boult, possibly pumped from his breezy unbeaten 12 off nine balls – but he, like Wood just now, is given a spoonful of his own medicine. Sibley pushes him for three and Crawley plays a block through the covers for three more, timing it well as he so often does.

1st over: England 2-1 (Sibley 1, Crawley 1) In comes Zak Crawley, who has gone from one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year in April to a walking wicket in June, with scores of 2, 2 and 0. But he caught well and he starts confidently here – leave, leave, clip for a single. Dom Sibley, also one of Wisden’s five, emulates him, albeit with less elegance. Still, NZ are on top, as they have been for most of the series.

Well, Burns got through one ball very successfully. He’s been England’s best batsman in this series but he’ll be feeling a bit of a lemon now, after chasing a wide full one and allowing Tom Latham to remind us why New Zealand are the best slip-catching team in the world. England are in the mire already.

Burns and Sibley are out there. The bad news is they have half an hour to get through before tea, so the bowlers can go flat out. The good news is they got through a whole session on Thursday morning.

“Afternoon Tim.” Afternoon Brian Withington, my old friend. “Tanya wondered earlier (over 104) how many strides Jimmy Anderson has taken in his career. Using Cricinfo data for all Test, ODI, T20 and First Class and List A matches, it appears that he has bowled around 110,000 deliveries, give or take. Assuming a run-up of approximately 20 paces we are therefore looking at something over 2m delivery strides. Phew.” Great stuff.

“I can also offer something I prepared earlier on the speed of grass growing (fall of 8th wicket) if required.”

Broad appeals for LBW, it’s all a bit half-hearted, but Root reviews and he’s right to – three reds, spearing in on leg stump.

So Broad finishes with 4-48, which he deserves after not having much luck yesterday. But the spoils go to New Zealand, who have built a soild lead through a strong team effort. They’ve got 85 runs in the bank and, according to CricViz, a 53pc chance of a win, to England’s 26.

119th over: New Zealand 388-9 (Patel 20, Boult 12) If Jack Leach was playing, he would now be coming on. As it is Root turns to himself, the less successful of England’s two part-time off-spinners in this match. The crowd, sober as a newt, serenade him with Joe Root, to the tune of Hey Jude. Take a dropped catch and make it better? Boult dances down the track and thumps a lofted straight drive for four. The lead is 85.

118th over: New Zealand 383-9 (Patel 19, Boult 8) Boult, facing Broad, has a slog too – two men went to mow. He gets four off the inside edge. Broad responds with a rare attempted yorker, but it ends up as a full toss and Boult blocks it comfortably. Then Broad drops short and Boult sees it so early that his pull shot goes straight past a rather peeved bowler. NZ are eyeing 400.