Joe Root was required to bring his England captain’s blazer out of storage for the first time in four years this week, but unless England can conjure an extraordinary final-day escape, it is likely to be returned to the garage after a record 27th defeat as skipper.
Ben Stokes appears poised to resume control, having suggested a welcome return to batting form with 95 in the County Championship on Saturday. With the investigation into his conduct after the Lord’s Test now concluded, Root’s latest stint in charge looks set to be as brief as England’s resistance has often appeared at the Oval.
Root, now 35, still did everything he could to hold off the inevitable. His innings began amid a wave of celebration, with a packed Saturday crowd roaring “R-O-O-T” as two singles carried him to 14,000 Test runs, making him only the second player after Sachin Tendulkar to reach the milestone.
Yet the occasion was never simply about personal achievement. Root will resume on Sunday unbeaten on 75, with England five wickets down and still a daunting 281 runs away from a victory target that feels more theoretical than realistic.
For a spell, the scale of the gulf between this inexperienced England side and New Zealand was pushed to the background. Root played a supporting role as Harry Brook counter-attacked in a brisk fourth-wicket stand of 97, briefly evoking memories of last year’s Stokes-less contest against India, when England fell agonisingly short in a dramatic finish.
When Brook, Root’s Yorkshire team-mate, arrived at 40 for three, the situation must have felt painfully familiar to the former full-time captain. It was the kind of precarious scoreline that defined some of the most gruelling periods of Root’s five-year leadership.
Root reached 14,000 Test runs with a pair of singles, becoming only the second player after Sachin Tendulkar to achieve the landmark
New Zealand seamer Matt Henry had lbw appeals upheld against both Yorkshiremen, but inside edges saved Root on 44 and Brook on 53
Few pack a counter-punch as powerful as Brook, however, and alternating charges down the pitch with back foot strikes deep un his crease, he reached to a 33-ball 50. In one heady spell, 62 runs were plundered in seven overs.
With Root resolute in defence and guiding and flicking into gaps at the other end, it looked a different game to the start of the innings when Kyle Jamieson dispatched Emilio Gay and Jacob Bethell in the same over and a restrained Ben Duckett toe-ended a pull to midwicket.
But the reintroduction of Matt Henry provided a stark warning of the fluctuating fortunes Test cricket offers. Exploiting the lateral movement on offer from a pitch on which the grass has become increasingly straw-coloured, New Zealand’s veteran seamer believed he’d scalped both Yorkshiremen with LBW dismissals – only for inside edges to reprieve Root on 44 and Brook on 53.
Those successful reviews might have embarrassed South African umpire Adrian Holdstock, but they also warned of the threat of Henry in these conditions.
Having taken five wickets in helping his side open up a three-figure advantage on first innings, Henry opened his account for the second when an edge from Brook 75 minutes after tea found its way to first slip from a nick off wicketkeeper Tom Blundell, standing up to the stumps.
When James Rew’s error-strewn debut, including multiple dropped catches, featured a second dismissal within touching distance of the close of play, New Zealand were halfway towards setting up a series decider at Trent Bridge next Thursday.
Beginning 352 runs to the good, in the knowledge that the highest successful Test chase on this ground is 263, they added 110 runs for their final seven wickets, dangling England a world-record shaped carrot of 463 or five sessions to stave off defeat.
The equation would have been different but for a missed opportunity from the first ball of the fourth morning when Jofra Archer found the edge of Daryl Mitchell’s bat, only for a diving Brook, England’s sole slip, to allow the ball to burst through his hand on its way to the boundary.
Undeterred, Archer bowled with considerable menace and impressive stamina for a player who until this week had been on a Twenty20 diet in 2026, inducing thick nicks from Henry Nicholls and Glenn Phillips, New Zealand’s two centurions in this match, across eight overs that cost 23 runs.
Statistically, Matthew Fisher did his chances of retention no harm, although his three late wickets were of the cheap variety
The 31-year-old was not meant to play this match, but when Stokes and Gus Atkinson were rendered un-selectable while under investigation by the Cricket Regulator for the early hours incident that followed the series opening win over New Zealand at Lord’s, he stepped up to the plate, finishing with figures of five for 123 from 36 overs.
Whether England ask him to feature in Nottingham may be influenced by the availability of others.
England are keen to name their third Test squad on Monday, but are shrouded in uncertainty. Stokes and Atkinson are expected to return, but Ollie Robinson, man of the match in the first Test, will undergo another fitness check on his knee niggle while the length of Jamie Smith’s paternity leave is yet to be established.
