England v New Zealand 2nd Test at Trent bridge June 25-29th
Neil Whitaker reports
Day 1June 25, 2026 9:18 pm
NEW Zealand captain Tom Latham and Devon Conway put England’s bowlers to the sword under the heat at Trent Bridge with a record breaking opening partnership for New Zealand against England of 317 beating the 276 made by Jack Mills and Stewie Dempster in Wellington in 1930.
The partnership brought back unhappy memories of 1989 when Australia openers Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor made 301 on the first day of the fifth Ashes Test at Trent Bridge. The record was broken when Latham pulled Gus Atkinson to the square leg boundary after Latham had tickled the previous ball and stumper Jamie Smith failed to take the catch. On a day when chances were hard to come by, England needed to take every chance they were offered. They even failed to take a review when Conway was on 71 and was hit on the pads. But Shoaib Bashir didn’t appeal and England didn’t review it.
But when they did review a decision they got it wrong. In their eagerness to get a wicket England gambled on a review when Latham on 61 was knocked off feet by Tongue but he was given not out by umpire Nitin Menon. England reviewed it and the replay showed it to be missing.
Latham made 151 and joined former Kiwi captain Martin Crowe on 17 Test centuries and is now behind Kane Williamson on 33 and Ross Taylor on 19. It took Crowe 77 Test matches but it has taken Latham 95. Latham reached his century when he glanced England captain Ben Stokes off his legs to square leg boundary.
On eight Latham edged Joffa Archer through the gap at third slip to the third man boundary after Bethel had been moved from third slip to one of two gullies. If Jacob Bethell hadn’t been moved he would easily have taken the catch.
Latham punched Stokes through the cover for a couple to bring up his 32nd test fifty from 65 balls with four fours. Two balls later he slashed Stokes over the slips heads to the third man boundary. A missfield by Stokes at mid-off allowed Latham to get three to take him into the 90’s. In the next one Latham clipped Josh Tongue off his legs to the square leg boundary.
His partnership with Conway was broken when he was cramped up for room by Stokes and top edged a cut to Smith.
But Conway joined Latham back in the hutch in the next over. Possibly suffering from the effects of the he was cramping and played a tired hack at Joe Root which found substitute Matt Fisher who dived forward at long-on.
Conway drilled Stokes the long-off boundary for his shot of the morning. In Stokes’ next over Conway clipped him off his legs to the square-leg boundary. He opened the face of his bat to Atkinson and drove him to the extra cover boundary.
He elegantly late cut Shoaib Bashir to the third man boundary. His range of shots were coming to the forefront when he danced down the pitch to Shoaib Bashir and blasted him straight to the boundary. As easy as anything he effortlessly drove Shoaib Bashir to the long-off boundary.
Conway danced down the pitch and turned the ball into a full toss and blasted him over mid-wicket for a six.Conway helped a short ball on his legs from Josh Tongue on its way to the fine leg boundary for a six. He pulled the next ball just wide of a diving BenDuckett at square leg.
Henry Nicholls greeted the arrival of the new ball by pulling the first ball from Archer to the fine leg boundary. At the end of the day England struck with two wickets. In the penultimate over of the day Shoaib Bashir stopped a boundary and put Rachin Ravindran back on strike. He played a poor shot top edging a pull of Atkinson and Smith took the catch. With the first ball of the next over Nicholls edged Archer to Smith
361 is the highest number of runs scored by New Zealand on a day’s Test cricket in England
England’s bowling coach Tim Southee said: “I think both teams liked the look of the wicket and they played pretty well throughout. It was always a toss you wanted to win to give yourself the best chance. But with those two late wickets and the energy we’ll come back tomorrow with, it’s not too bad.
I thought the surface was good all day and we got our rewards late in the day. We were able to get one at the end of the over and one at the beginning of the next.
Latham and Conway batted beautifully and Latham has been able to work his way through different conditions around the world. It was nice to see him bat well.”
New Zealand Assistant coach Luke Ronchi said: “I think our batting has got better the longer the series has gone on. The guys who have come in know their roles.
We are 360 for four and that’s the best position we’ve had all series, there is no one in the dressing room saying we wanted more.”
New Zealand made three changes from the side which won at the Kia Oval, Grant Phillips was ruled out by a side strain, Matt Henry had a calf strain and were replaced by Blair Tickner and Ben Sears. Kyle Jamison was withdrawn as an injury precaution and was replaced by Mitch Santner. The New Zealander’s wore black armbands in memory of Bob Blair who died on June 23rd, his 95th birthday. New Zealand won the toss and decided to bat
While England welcomed back Stokes, Atkinson, leaving out Fisher and Sonny Baker.
Day 2
BEN Duckett hit his seventh Test century on his home ground of Trent Bridge and his first in over a year.
He played Mitch Santner on the legside and called Jacob Bethell for a quick single and Bethell responded well. His century came from 88 balls and is the joint fastest for England and it included 10 fours. Duckett’s last Test century was against India at Headingley on June 24th at Headingley.
He said: “It was incredible. I haven’t scored the runs that I wanted to in the last year. I’ve played the same way but I haven’t got a score so it’s been frustrating because I haven't been out of nick. They put me down and I made them pay for it.”
The Nottinghamshire opener started his innings in the way he carried on. In their first over he hit two fours off Nathan Smith, in Smith’s next over Duckett edged him to Nicholls who dropped a sitter. To rub salt into Smith’s wound Duckett drove the next ball to the cover boundary. Duckett kept finding the boundaries and the England fifty came up in the 11th over. He brought up his 17th Test fifty off 40 balls with 10 fours.
Duckett blasted a full toss from Santner to the square leg boundary and drilled the next ball to the long-off boundary. He swatted Santner just wide off long-on. A pull off Will O'Rourke by Duckett to the square leg boundary to take him into the 90’s. He pulled O’Rourke to the fine leg to take him to 98 and bring up 150 partnership with Jacob Bethell.
After an hesitant start when he looked like he would be on his way back to the hutch but Bethell’s confidence started to grow and he started to find the boundary as well as Duckett. The 100 partnership between Duckett and Bethell came up after 101 balls. Duckett put away a full toss from Santner as New Zealand found it hard to stop the leaking of boundaries.
Bethell pulled O’Rourke to the fine leg boundary and he cut Santner to the cover boundary. He reached his third Test fifty which came from 60 balls when he worked Santner to leg for a single. The partnership was broken when he got an inside edge to Sears and played on. With Bethell he added 179 for the second wicket in 30 overs.
With just over an hour left on the first day with New Zealand on 319
for one, you would have got long odds on New Zealand only adding another 119 but that’s what happened on the second day at Trent Bridge.
England didn’t get wickets straight away and it looked like it was going to be another long hot day in the field for them but just as he did on the first day it was Ben Stokes who got the breakthrough. On the second day he got three wickets to take him to 250 Test wickets.
After 52 minutes England got their first wicket of the morning when Daryl Mitchell feathered Stokes to Jamie Smith. Stokes went up for the catch and the appeal was turned down by umpire Nitin Menon but Stokes reviewed it and the replay showed that Mitchell had got a faint edge. Mitchell couldn’t believe it.
Mitchell said: “Sometimes you get good decisions, sometimes you don’t. We want the umpires to take as long as they can to get the decisions right.
We’ve got a young attack with a lot of energy and I think they tried too hard but as the innings went on they operated better. I thought Duckett batted well and he was always going to get boundary balls.
We had a good opening partnership but England are allowed to bowl well. Hopefully tomorrow we will get a couple of early wickets. But remember Test cricket is played over five days, not two.”
In the first over after drinks O’Rourke pulled Stokes but got a leading edge and the ball went up the ladder and Emilio Gay at point took the catch. Night watchman O’Rourke hit his best score in Test. He edged a drive off Josh Tongue to the third man boundary. Another edge this time off Stokes brought him another boundary as the ball evaded a flying Bethell at gully. O’Rourke, on 19, edged the next ball, despite Smith’s first movement going to the legside he dived to his right and got his fingertips to it but the rebound was dropped by Joe Root at first slip.
Tom Blundell hit 10 off one Gus Atkinson over. First he pulled Atkinson to the square leg where good work by Shoaib Bashir on the boundary edge prevented a boundary. The next ball was guided to the third man boundary. Blundell finished the over by brutally driving Atkinson to the cover boundary.
Stokes got his 250th Test wicket when Santner fended off a short and the ball looped to Bethell at point. Santner reviewed it saying it had come off his arm guard. The replay convinced third umpire Adrian Holdstack that he had gloved it.
Blundell hooked Jofra Archer to the fine leg boundary, the next cut into Blundell who did well not to play on. In the next over on 27, he gave a hard return from chance to Shoaib Basher who failed to hold on to it. During his innings Blundell passed 1,000 Test runs against England. On 28 Blundell pulled Archer to Shoaib Basher on the square leg boundary who was late to see it, dived forward to take it and dropped it.
In the next over he took a sharp return catch off Smith, even if it took him two attempts. As the saying goes you should always take them off your own bowling. Three balls later Blundell tried to reverse sweep Shoaib Basher missed the ball and was hit on the pad. Blundell was given out but reviewed it. After the first replay he turned to walk off, but after an age he was given out.
Amazingly since 6.25 on the first day New Zealand lost eight wickets for 77 in 31 overs.
England Emilio Gay in their second over after he had faced only six balls from O’Rourke but had a torrid time against the first five balls then O’Rourke strangled him down the legside.
Root clipped Ben Sears off his legs to the square leg boundary to bring up England’s 200. He only pushed Zak Foulkes into the overs and the ball raced to the boundary. Blair Tickner, who was hit on his head while he was batting left the field and was replaced by Foulkes.
Day 3
THE third day of a Test match is known as the moving day and today was no exception as 11 wickets fell, eight of them were England wickets and three New Zealand.
England lost eight wickets for 131 in 44 overs and when New Zealand batted again they slipped to 51 for three inside 15 overs but an unbroken third wicket partnership of 69 between Rachin Ravindra, unbeaten on 60 and Daryl Mitchell 26, who ducked into his first ball, extended the Kiwi lead to 204 with seven second innings wickets standing. The nearest that England came to breaking the partnership was when Mitchell swept Shoaib Basher but the ball fell short off Joffa Archer at short fine leg.
New Zealand, had the morning session they dreamed about taking four wickets in the morning session and three of them by 11.31. England captain Ben Stokes was bowled when he attempted a big drive at a good length ball that Zak Foulkes brought back and bowled Stokes between his bat and pad.
Harry Brook reached his 17th Test fifty but didn’t progress. He hit consecutive boundaries off Nathan Smith: the first he clipped off his legs to square leg and he guided the second to third man.
He brought up his 18th Test fifty when he worked Foulkes off his legs. His fifty came off 66 balls with five fours. Brook looked calm and assured at the wicket and another Test century looked on the cards. The New Zealand plan for Brook was to have stumper, Tom Blundell stand-up to him. After lunch it seemed to unsettle Brook who was beaten by one that moved away late and was bowled by Foulkes.
Foulkes said: “That was a massive factor because I am not the quickest bowler and I think that Blundell has been awesome in this series. Our plan today was to stay boring as long as possible to dry the runs up. If we did that we knew that things could go in our favour. If we just probed the off stump we knew that we would get our rewards. I think that Mitch Santner will have a big role in their fourth innings when the pitch will be at its hardest.”
After Jocra Archer smacked Smith to the cover boundary to bring up England’s 350 Archer got a brute of a ball which was unplayable which edged to Mitchell at first slip.
Gus Atkinson, who was wrapped on his gloves by the previous ball, was beaten by the extra bounce of the new ball and edged Will O’Rourke to Mitchell. After surviving a reveiw Atkinson got a thick outside edge to the next ball that flew to the third man boundary to take New Zealand’s lead below 100. New Zealand took the new ball as soon as it was available, especially as the old one was reversing. And they nearly got rid of Atkinson on 22, when he chipped O’Rourke to Ben Sears at mid-on but the ball went straight through his hands.
The innings was wrapped up when Josh Tongue turned Foukes off his legs and Santner raced in from mid-wicket to take the catch.
In the second over of the morning New Zealand got the prized wicket of Joe Root. Smith got one to come back at Root and hit him on the knee roll. Umpire Rod Tucker gave him out and as Root always does Root reviewed it. The replay showed it to be umpires’ call.
New Zealand got their second wicket of the day when O’Rourke, bowling over the wicket, angled one across at Jacob Bethell who fished at it, edged it to Kiwi captain Tom Latham at second slip.
Jamie Smith soon joined Root and Bethell back in the hutch when he edged an expansive drive off Smith to Mitchell at slip. Mitchell wasn’t sure that the ball had carried so the TV umpire reviewed it and the ball had carried.
Stokes was giving a rousing reception when he came in but it wasn’t his day. He edged Smith and despite Devon Conway at gully getting his fingertips he couldn’t get the ball to stick and the ball ran to the third man boundary.
40 minutes before lunch Sears was unsettled by the turf in the middle of his run up being chewed and play was held up for several minutes. One of the ground staff appeared several times with a big hammer. Eventually they decided to reseed it at lunch when the players were off the field.
Leading by 84 New Zealand lost their first wicket in their first over when Archer jagged one away from the New Zealand captain and was leg before for four. Memories came back of when England beat New Zealand at Trent Bridge in 2022 and in New Zealand’s second innings Latham was dismissed for four.
Conway was hit on his helmet by Archer after Conway had looked to leave it. After a long delay Conway was back in the hutch joining his captain. Archer got one to rise at him taking the shoulder of his bat and Root at first slip took an easy catch.
Ravindra thrashed Tongue to the long-boundary. He clipped Tongue off his feet to the fine leg boundary and slammed the next ball to the point boundary.
On 11 Tongue bowling around the wicket took the shoulder of Nicholls’ bat and the ball flew between Smith and Brook at wide slip to the third man boundary. In the next over Atkinson found the shoulder of Henry Nicholls bat and this time Brook at first slip moved to his right and took the catch,
Shoaib Basher said: “It was disappointing that after yesterday’s batting efforts that we couldn’t get closer to their score. But we know that tomorrow we have a job to do and I know that there’s a role for me to play so I am looking forward to tomorrow. The pitch is deteriorating.”
Day 4
THE fourth day’s play was dominated by the announcement of England captain Ben Stokes retirement from Test captaincy and international cricket at the end of this match.
When the news was broken the crowd rose in appreciation and at that moment he took a wicket. Zak Foulkes edged him and Harry Brook at second slip took a low catch diving to his right.
In a video released by the ECB Stokes said: “There’s something that I know is going to happen over the next two days which is going to be that this is my last two days as your captain and my last two representing England.
Reasons can wait, (in terms of) why, but I’ve had many trips to the well before for this team, for you boys and for people beforehand. And I’ve got one more trip to do.
The only thing that I ask, please, is that everyone does the same. We’ve got a lot of hard work still to do and the only thing that I want is to be able to walk off that field, regardless of the result, knowing that I’ve had this group of men-one lady-give everything for the last two days.
The only thing I want is just for everyone to give it everything, not only for me selfishly, but also for the team and everything else that we’ve got going forward for you blokes.
All the taps on the behind, all the emotion, all that kind of stuff-please can we just wait for the end of the game because we’ve still got a load of work to do and I’ve got a load more work I want to do.
Let’s just go out there and give absolutely everything for another two days, alright? That’s my only intention and that’s where all my energy is right now. Got the emotional side out of the way but now it’s the time to go to work and everyone else please just come with me.”
Three weeks ago he was suspended for the Test match at the Kia Oval and it appeared that he would retire then or would be sacked. But he decided to carry on after England had lost the second Test match.
So who will captain England in the remaining Test matches this summer against Pakistan in August and September. When Stokes was suspended Rob Key said that there were only two candidates to replace him, vice captain Harry Brook and the previous captain Joe Root. Brook could be ruled out of the running after the night club incident in New Zealand last October and Root doesn’t have a brilliant track record as captain. At Yorkshire he was known by his teammates as ‘Craptain’.
When Stokes came out after tea he was given a guard of honour by his teammates, the two New Zealand batsmen and the two umpires, and again when he walked out to open England’s second innings. He took a couple of paces down the pitch to Foulkes and lofted him into the pavilion. Audaciously he swept Nathan Smith over deep square leg for a six. Everyone in the crowd had their hearts in their mouths when he edged a drive off Foulkes but the ball just evaded Daryl Mitchell’s outstretched hand at slip.
England’s fifty came up when Stokes belted Foulkes to the extra cover boundary. His last Test innings ended when he pulled the next ball to Mitch Santner to mid-wicket. Stokes’ 30 came from 20 balls with two sixes and two fours.
Four balls later Jacob Bethell didn’t play a shot to Foulkes and was given out leg before. Bethell reviewed it and it was hitting.
Brook came in at four and not his usual position five at and pulled his first ball for a six over leg. He scooped his second ball for a four. Foulkes got his third wicket when Brook helped a legside ball on its way and Smith on the fine leg boundary.
Ben Sears bowling with an injured finger got the wicket of Duckett just before the close. Sears took the shoulder of Duckett’s bat and Mitchell at slip took a good catch because he was unsighted by stumper Tom Blundell.
Mitchell hit his sixth Test century and was unbeaten 100 when New Zealand captain Tim Latham declared, setting England 373 to win. Mitchell denied England for 394 minutes facing 241 balls, hitting 10 fours and a six.
England thought they had leg before on 28 in the second over of the day when umpire Rod Tucker gave him out but Mitchell reviewed it but the replay showed it to be going over. He added another single before he was hit on the elbow by a ball which rose sharply from Stokes.
Mitchell edged Josh Tongue wide of Brook at slip to the third man boundary. Another edge by Mitchell off the same bowler passed the same fielder to the same place brought up the hundred partnership with Rachin Ravindra off 209 balls. He gently pushed Tongue to the extra cover boundary.
After tea Mitchell decided to up the tempo by cutting Tongue to the third man boundary. He then pulled Tongue for a six and got hit on his helmet when he ducked into a short ball from Gus Atkinson.
His overnight partner Ravindra was by far the most adventurous of the pair. He pulled Stokes to the square leg boundary. He made batting look easy on the fourth morning as he clipped Jofra Archer the mid-wicket boundary and deserved to reach a hundred.
Consecutive fours from Ravindra off Tongue saw him into the 90’s but on the stroke of lunch he played back to Shoaib Bashir, bowling for the first time from the Stuart Broad end, and was hit on his pad. Ravindra was given out but Ravindra reviewed it and the replay showed it to be smashing into the leg stump. With Mitchell, Ravindra added 129 in 44 overs for fourth wicket and in the morning session they added 60 in 24 overs to their overnight score.
Blundell edged Archer just wide of a diving Bethell’s outstretched right hand to the third man boundary to bring up New Zealand’s 200. In the next over Archer bowled a couple of bouncers to Blundell but he couldn’t control the second one and Emilio Gay on the square leg boundary. That was the first of three New Zealand wickets for two runs in 10 balls.
In the next over Santner was back in the hutch after he edged Stokes to Jamie Smith. Stokes didn’t hear a thing but Smith must have heard a feather so Stokes reviewed it. For the second time Santner was bemused to be given out by the third umpire. Nathan Smith edged a short ball from Archer to Jamie Smith and Smith soon walked to the hutch.
Sears, who retired hurt on 19 when he was hit on his bowling hand by Atkinson.
O’Rourke was adjudged leg before, but he reviewed it and the replay showed it to be hitting, so Sears made a quick return to the crease.
Day 5
THERE was no fairy tale ending to Ben Stokes England Test career as New Zealand beat England by 160 runs at Trent Bridge, with over a 1.5 sessions to play.
New Zealand became the first holders of the Crowe-Thorpe trophy. It’s the second time that New Zealand have won a three match or more Test series after losing the first Test and the fourth time that they have won a Test series in England. For England on the other hand its first Test series of three matches or more that they have lost in England for more than a decade.
Stokes said: “I opened the innings because we thought that the best way to get some pressure on them was to get runs on the board when they had the field up but we didn’t think that we would be four down at the close.
I would like to be remembered as someone who went out in an England shirt and did everything they could to win a Test and did their best and left nothing out there.
He also threw his back on Harry Brook as the new Test captain. “If you ask me who the next captain should be I would say Brook because he is the vice captain and it’s a natural progression from that to captain.”
Kiwi captain Tom Latham said: “It was a fantastic series and really pleasing after Lord’s and I am proud of the effort that the boys have put in. We knew at Lord’s we did some good things and a lot of guys have stood up since then when they needed to and win the special moments. We knew that today wasn’t going to be easy but we got the job done.
We were under pressure on day three when we lost early wickets but Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra settled a lot of nerves in the dressing room. And when we had to dig in and go back to old school cricket we did and we need to adapt to the situation we were in.”
Despite free admission Trent Bridge was not full and after 13 minutes New Zealand broke the overnight partnership of Joe Root and Emilio Gay. In the second over of the morning bowling from the Radcliffe road the extremes of the pitch came to the fore: one ball took off from a length and another shot along the ground. In the next over from the Radcliffe road end Nathan Smith took the outside edge of Gay’s bat and Tom Blundell took a low catch.
Four balls later Jamie Smith pushed Nathan Smith into the off side and set off for a single but Root couldn’t beat Henry Nicholls’ direct hit from backward point.
Jamie Smith top scored with 60 and was the last man out when smashed Mitch Santner straight to Nathan Smith on the long-off boundary who took a good low catch. After the departure of Root hit a couple of fours of Nathan Smith’s next over; the first was a push to the cover boundary and the second was an edge through the slips. He turned Santner off his legs to the fine leg boundary to bring England’s 150 up.
After having a torrid time against Santner, Smith finally got hold of him and hit him straight into the Stuart Broad end for a six to bring up the fifty partnership with Gus Atkinson in 15 overs. Two overs later Smith had a big swing at Santner for a one bounce four.
With two wickets standing Smith drove Santner to the extra cover boundary to bring up his fifty from 87 balls with eight fours. He smashed the next two balls to the boundary: the first to the mid wicket boundary and the second to the long-on boundary.
Atkinson clipped Zak Foulkes off his toes for his first boundary. He left the bulk of the scoring to Smith even though Atkinson is quite a capable batter until eight minutes before lunch when he went back to Santner’s arm ball which kept low and he was leg before. He reviewed it but it was to no avail. With Smith he added 75 in 23 overs and made sure the match went beyond lunch which didn’t look likely after Root’s and Gay’s early dismissals.
In the third over after lunch Joffa Archer tried to leave a short ball from Smith but the ball ran off his glove to Blundell who took a low catch.
Josh Tongue tried to get Smith back on strike as he turned Smith off his legs and set off for a single but was sent back by Smith. As he turned he couldn’t beat Santner’s direct hit and walked off covered in dust.
For the second time in the innings O’Rourke had to leave the field mid over. This time he pulled his left hamstring.