After the turbulence of recent weeks, it felt almost inevitable that Ben Stokes would be the man to make England’s first breakthrough on his comeback in this pivotal third Test. The snag was the timing: it was already 5.23pm, and New Zealand had piled up 317.
Among the many factors that might one day be blamed for the end of this exhilarating chapter in English cricket, few would have expected a coin toss to feature prominently.
Not a late-night drinking session. Not confusion over a curfew. Not a captain offering cryptic remarks about what comes next. Instead, it may come down to a simple 50-50 decision on one of the most docile pitches Nottingham has surely served up. Sometimes, the smallest margins carry the heaviest consequences.
When Stokes and Brendon McCullum first surveyed the Trent Bridge surface on Tuesday, their reading appeared clear. What began as a 20mm layer of grass, later trimmed to 10mm, disguised a dry base beneath, complete with the odd crack and the likelihood of widening under fierce sunshine. With temperatures climbing into the mid-30s, the case for batting first was compelling.
But that was only part of the story. Almost seven hours after Tom Latham won the toss with a successful call of “heads”, the New Zealand captain had helped construct his country’s record opening partnership against England. When he eventually edged Stokes behind to Jamie Smith for 151, the England captain’s reaction seemed to combine joy, relief and sheer fatigue — perhaps not in that sequence.
In the following over, Devon Conway — by then flowing smoothly on 157 — tried to lift Joe Root’s off-spin over deep midwicket, only for substitute fielder Matthew Fisher to complete a fine tumbling catch. New Zealand were 319 for two.
Ben Stokes’ England faced a demanding opening day against New Zealand as he made his return to the side in Nottingham
To England’s credit, they continued to scrap from that point. Just before stumps, Rachin Ravindra mistimed a hook off Gus Atkinson — the standout bowler in the attack on his own return following the Rex Rooms episode — and Smith safely took the catch.
And when the under-used Jofra Archer had Henry Nicholls caught behind for 36 from the next delivery, stumps were taken at 361 for four, the scoreboard looking slightly less grim for England than it had five minutes earlier.
New Zealand’s dominance is not yet a guarantee of anything. Four years ago at this very ground, they began proceedings with 553, which was not enough to prevent a five-wicket defeat.
But that England team were in the first flushes of Bazball, the sight of a giant first-innings total a challenge to be relished not ducked. This version are drifting from one mishap to another, like a ship without its moorings. Already, the question is whether they have the nous, or even the spirit, to escape with a draw.
For Stokes, this was supposed to be the game that underscored his value to a side who looked lost without him at The Oval. He spoke in advance of the ‘love’ he had felt from the public during his mini-exile, and as if to prove the point received affirmative cheers and applause when he brought himself on to bowl at 12.25pm.
But at drinks in the final session, with the scoreboard reading 288 without loss, he briefly left the pitch and was met with an embarrassed silence. The British sporting public can forgive its heroes plenty, but no one knew quite where to look.
One of the several scenarios encouraged by Stokes’s gnomic utterances on the eve of this match was that this may be his final Test. And while England didn’t bowl poorly, and New Zealand’s openers batted ruthlessly, a day of four wickets hardly felt like the pick-me-up he craved.
Everything that could have gone wrong, it’s true, very much did. In the sixth over, Stokes moved third slip to gully, only to watch Latham miscue the next ball through the gap he had just created.
Devon Conway (pictured) and Tom Latham put on a reckord-breaking stand for the first wicket
After lunch, with Conway on 71 and the stand worth 157, England declined to review an lbw shout from Shoaib Bashir: replays revealed three reds, the ball brushing the front pad a fraction before hitting the bat. Later, with Latham on 129 and the total 276, Smith contrived to put down a simple leg-side chance off Atkinson, as bad a drop as any.
For a while it looked as if the New Zealanders might become the first pair of openers to bat through a day in England since Mark Taylor and Geoff Marsh did so here for Australia in 1989.
England were spared that indignity, but little else, as it dawned on the ECB employees present that the prospect of a face-saving win was fading by the over.
There remains dismay behind the scenes that someone else may yet pay the price for the captain’s decision to carry on drinking at a Chelsea nightclub on the night of the apparently restorative first-Test win at Lord’s.
That person is unlikely to be McCullum, whose position was strengthened by the Lord’s victory, and who will not be held accountable for losing the second Test at The Oval with a team full of novices.
And that leaves the target squarely on the back of managing director Rob Key, under whose watch the confusion over the curfew occurred. It is that confusion which contributed to the shifting of the blame away from Stokes and towards the ECB, and helped cement public opinion behind the captain.
All these cracks, of course, might have been papered over had Stokes won the toss. And, who knows, the late fightback may yet be the catalyst for something special. But nothing that happened in Nottingham dispelled the notion that this is an England set-up very much on the brink.
