New Zealand claim upper hand after Phillips century and late wickets jolt England

By Ali Martin at the Kia Oval • June 19, 2026 • Sport

The Black Caps’ disciplined attack made late inroads into their hosts’ batting to leave England 222 for 6 at the close on day two in reply to New Zealand’s 391

For all that the job wore him down over a five-year period, Joe Root was only ever going to say yes when England found themselves needing a sensible stand-in captain in the wake of Ben Stokes and that late night after Lord’s. But there will surely have been a few doubts when the call from Rob Key came in; flashbacks to the final throes of Root’s reign, when even a personally celestial final 12 months with the bat could not prevent the team’s overall slide. The second day against New Zealand at the Oval may also have been a bit triggering in this regard. It was certainly a turbulent one for this much-changed England side, who after failing to shut down New Zealand’s innings first thing closed on 222 for six – still some 169 runs in arrears. How well Jordan Cox (22 not out) can shepherd England’s remarkably long tail on debut may well dictate the outcome of this Test match. It will not be straightforward, with New Zealand’s four-pronged attack, led by the impeccable Matt Henry, in a rich groove and operating to some pretty shrewd plans. The best of them was the response to Harry Brook’s dancing feet and a truly absurd square-driven six early in his innings. It prompted Tom Blundell to move up to the stumps, shut down the footwork, and led to Henry finagling two precious lbws that had both Root, 46, and Brook, 24, trudging off in dismay. Plenty went back to a maddening morning for England in which New Zealand added a neat 100 runs to their overnight 291 for seven. Glenn Phillips marshalled the tail and defied a poorly delivered short-ball plan to register his maiden Test century in the process – becoming only the third New Zealander to make one in each format. Although how much of this was down to Root is up for debate. While he was the man directing traffic out in the middle, stand-in captains rarely have a mandate to rip up existing plans. A feature of the Stokes era has been a bombardment of the lower order and at times it has proved profitable. Root was also juggling a pretty green attack, with his most experienced bowler, Jofra Archer, seemingly stiff after his day one exertions and not called upon until 90 minutes – and a heap of runs – had passed. Not that this should have been a surprise to the management after his two-month diet of four-over spells. Things might have been different, too, had Ben Duckett not grassed a regulation catch in the deep when Kyle Jamieson was on 15. Sonny Baker was the bowler denied here, with the rookie’s delight at seeing the ball track perfectly to Duckett turn into slunken shoulders when it failed to stick in upturned palms. Jamieson went on to make 41 as one half of an eighth-wicket stand with Phillips worth 87 runs. Phillips played a superb hand here, it must be said, surviving a barrage from Archer the previous evening – and a less well-directed one from Baker and Josh Tongue the next day – for exactly 100 from 135 balls. Another source of angst for Root was seeing Duckett run out for 36 from 25 balls. The left-hander appeared to be glowing with form on this surface, for Emilio Gay, his new opening partner, to call him through for a single that never was and see Nathan Smith swoop in from cover and bullseye the stumps. Key compared Root’s temporary elevation to the number of times he has “dug England out of a hole from 10 for two”. As it was, Root found himself walking out at a healthier 68 for two in the afternoon after Smith found the edge of Jacob Bethell’s bat on nine with a lovely bit of wobble-seam bowling. Gay, to his credit, managed to shake off the error to bring up his second Test half-century and share a stand worth 74 runs with his second captain. The Oval, where the square runs all the way to the rope, also suits the left-hander’s game. But two balls after the milestone Gay was undone by a brutish delivery from Will O’Rourke, a fast bowler who gets his short balls to jag lavishly off the seam. It still needed a review, however, with only a couple of slip fielders realising the ball had brushed the shoulder of Gay’s bat as he got in a tangle.

Source: The Guardian