- Fifth and final ODI over-by-over updates from the Emirates Durham
- England require 192 from 26 overs after innings delayed by rain
- The series is level at 2-2 going into this deciding one-day encounter
- County cricket live! Join Lizzy Ammon at Wantage Road
- Email simon.burnton@theguardian.com; tweet @Simon_Burnton
5th over: England 23-3 (Roy 10, Stokes 2)
Ben Wheeler bowls, and foxes Stokes with some movement off the seam, meaning the over begins with four dots. Just a single off the over. Good to see the words Wheeler and moving reunited, though:
4th over: England 22-3 (Roy 10, Stokes 1)
There’s a delay, after Root’s dismissal, while a physio patches up Ronchi’s chin, which got thwacked by the ball mid-fumble. Morgan, then, has to hang about for a while before he gets a ball to face, perhaps contributing to his regrettable shot selection when it finally arrives. A bad start for England, then, and time for Jason Roy – ODI innings so far: 0, 39, 9, 38 – to stop the alternate-innings-are-totally-rubbish run.
Morgan tries to cart his first ball over cow corner, and doesn’t get enough on it!
Root advances to Santner, misjudges the flight of the ball and it spins past him. He turns, already resigned to his fate, and although Ronchi fumbles, he still dislodges the bails before Root’s bat is grounded.
3rd over: England 20-1 (Roy 9, Root 4)
A scratchy start to the innings from England, with only that Root cover-drive showing any kind of timing, though the final ball of Southee’s second over is nicely worked by Roy off his ankles and past backward square leg for four. The over is enlivened by a couple of wides and listening to Michael Holding try to say “anomalies” – which takes four or five attempts – during a discussion of Duckworth-Lewis. “England should cruise to victory – this is not much more than an easy T20 chase,” sniffs Giles Brooke. “The Kiwis have been a bit hard done by. Still, that’s what happens when you let a former heavyweight boxing champion and someone from Coronation St decide the best way to finish rain-affected cricket matches.”
2nd over: England 12-1 (Roy 3, Root 4)
New Zealand bring some early spin, and Hales tries to punish them and regrets it. Root ends the over though with the first boundary of the innings, driven along the ground through the covers.
Super catch! Hales smacks the ball in the air, and Williamson snatches it, leaping, at full stretch, one-handed, at square leg!
1st over: England 7-0 (Roy 2, Hales 1)
Roy edges Southee’s first delivery wide of the second and final slip, and England’s run chase gets under way (he edges the last ball of the over, with identical results). Another single later a ball heading down leg side flicks off Roy’s thigh pad as he tries to turn it round the corner, and rumbles away for four leg byes. “Emiel de Bont is in good company,” writes David Wall, pointing out this video:
The sun’s still shining, and the players are on their way out!
@simon_burnton This is the 2nd longest day of the year...you can play cricket at midnight up North. Why only 26 overs?
“The Duckworth-Lewis Method has me puzzled,” laments Emiel de Bont. “The Kiwis manage 283 for loss of 9 wickets, using their full complement of 50 overs. Now England are asked to crack 192 off half that complement plus 6 balls. And is that with the new ball or is an umpire going to scoff and scratch it a bit? I don’t see how this could be fair.” It’s maths, though, innit. Maths is never fair.
@Simon_Burnton I go on holiday in July, any chance of some cricket before then?
Very much so. Precisely 15 minutes from now, with apparently no chance of further rainfall. England’s required run rate has increased from 5.68 over 50 overs, to 7.38 over 26.
Update: England’s target is 192.
Still waiting to hear what England’s target will be, but around 190ish would probably cover it.
@Simon_Burnton one cover to go - 5:30 restart 26 overs. Blue sky now so all good for Hales to crunch a quick 50 pic.twitter.com/nw72Owu29J
So play will restart in 23 minutes, and England’s innings will be compressed into 26 overs.
Oooh!
Is that blue sky I can see??? #ENGvNZ@bbctms@DurhamCricketpic.twitter.com/MqRdRV2QY4
I’m afraid I need photographic proof of this.
Blue skies overhead now! #ENGvNZ
So of all the it’s-stopped-raining moments, this has to be the last. If play doesn’t start in the next 51 minutes, it will not start at all. Another half-hour of drizzle would spell the end. On the plus side, this would result in the drawn series that many observers feel would be its just and proper conclusion. On the downside, it would result in many howls of anguished frustration across the nation, including one here at a humble desk in Kings Cross.
Meanwhile in Durham, word is it has stopped raining again.
This isn’t the only cricket liveblog currently running here at Guardian Towers – there’s also the Elizabeth Ammon’s County updates. Last two entries:
Can it just either rain properly, or stop altogether. This on-off business is no good for anyone. It’s the hope that gets you.
@Simon_Burnton rain back on - good trip from Edinburgh this.....
The rain radar really doesn’t show much to be afraid off. But then that was also true an hour ago. Anyway, the covers are coming off again.
Positive news - the covers are starting to come off! #ENGvNZ
Vital statistics, courtesy of @mohanstatsman on Twitter. England’s targets in reduced overs:
159 in 20 overs
186 in 25 overs
211 in 30 overs
232 in 35 overs
251 in 40 overs
More bad news:
Rain quite steady now. More sheets have been brought on.
Press box scorer calculates we must be playing by 5.38 to avoid a washout.
Still raining! Gah! The frustration! We’ll certainly be losing overs now, sadly.
The umbrellas are up @waitrose#EngvNZpic.twitter.com/bk5eCdswC0
The umpires walk out! And then it starts raining again, and they turn around. Bah!
Update: play is due to get under way at 3.49pm. A strange choice of times, being just one minute away from the nicely round-sounding 3.50pm, but that’s the way it is. More good news: they’re still going to squeeze in 50 overs (though obviously New England will knock this off in 25).
Play now due to re-start at 3.49pm with no overs lost (providing there is no further rain). #ENGvNZ
And now the covers are going off again! This is fantastically exciting stuff. They were hoping to restart a few minutes from now, and surely they won’t hang around.
The covers are coming back on! Meanwhile, on TMS Andrew Flintoff has described Merv Hughes as “the best bloke I’ve ever met”.
Oh dear, the drizzle is back and the covers are coming back on... #engvnz ^CE
The covers are coming off!
The rain in Durham is being described as “persistent drizzle”. It’ll take more than that to derail this train (though it’s plenty enough to pause it).
The most remarkable thing about the latest England-cricketers-have-fun story: is there any explicable response to a DJ playing Cotton Eye Joe other than leaving the establishment immediately?
It’s raining! Though the rain radar doesn’t make particularly depressing viewing, so we should still get a game.
Hello world!
Well that was a disaster: for the first time in this series a team has scored fewer than 300 runs from a full allocation of overs. It’s like a throwback to the bad old days, when teams did things other than score at an astonishing pace for a long time, and what’s more they did it in front of mildly disappointed crowds under grey skies. (For the record, in 50-over innings in this country there have now been 157 sub-300 totals, and 29 proper ones, of 300 or above.) That 22-run final over (there were only three other double-figure overs: a 10, a 12 and a 13) was a glimpse of what everyone wants, and what England deliver, these days.
Beer garden pumping!!!... #Manchesterpic.twitter.com/hdpjde6B8d
Great to see our friend @RyanSidebottom at Bramham Gala who opened the day pic.twitter.com/xQV6iUtTtq
England require 284 to win this 5th ODI and the series.
That’s all from me. Simon Burnton will be with you shortly for the reply. In the meantime, enjoy this video of Chris Tarrant repeating greetings...
50th over: New Zealand 283-9 (Wheeler 39, Mathieson 0)
Just like the last over, the first ball is hammered for six! This time it’s Henry off Finn, to the biggest boundary, too! Moosed. Out two balls later trying to repeat the trick. Ho hum. A slower bouncer to Wheeler is waited on and then glanced over Buttler’s head for four! And another six – Finn goes into Wheeler and it’s played over mid-wicket. And then another six straight! Incredible last over – 22 from it!
Henry clears his front foot and tries to hit Finn out of the county, but skies to Ben Stokes at mid-on.
49th over: New Zealand 261-8 (Wheeler 23, Henry 6)
Stokes’ first ball of his last over his smashed for six by Wheeler! Good running and poor fielding from Finn gives Wheeler another two. Slower ball from Stokes is swiped at and bounces just over the stumps. Henry then steals one
Ross Taylor was the first man ct Bairstow b Willey in ODIs since Rod Marsh on 8 December 1979 http://t.co/D27g69rOqZ
48th over: New Zealand 251-8 (Wheeler 14, Henry 5)
Henry is the new batsman and, when he gets the strike from Wheeler, he’s able to hit Willey, who’s full, down the ground for four! No footwork, all hands and lovely timing. Short and swatted to Rashid at midwicket, who saves some runs, but it’s the 250 for New Zealand!
47th over: New Zealand 244-8 (Wheeler 12)
Stokes on for the death. He’s got two overs left and he’s short to Southee, down the leg side, and it’s worked behind fine-leg, who’s up, for four! Poor from Stokes. Fuller but Southee times this well to mid-wicket, where two fielders work to save two. Two more to square leg – 9 runs so far, one to come... bowled!
Stokes goes full, Southee tries to go big, leg stump goes back.
46th over: New Zealand 235-7 (Wheeler 11, Southee 10)
Wheeler gets a single, Southee faces and hits Willey high towards Stokes at deep mid-on. The Durham man runs in and dives but it’s just short of him. Single. Another shot – this time from Wheeler – goes high and lands short of an England fielder: Hales doing the mopping up running in from the off side boundary. Single off the last ball, too.
Fair to say that Mark Wood has bowled a lot better than 10-0-60-0 suggests
45th over: New Zealand 230-7 (Southee 9, Wheeler 7)
Mark Wood in and Wheeler gets Southee on strike who swings and misses before playing a nice on-drive for a single. Wheeler gets enough bat to work a ball behind square leg for another single. Wood finishes without a wicket to his name but to be honest he’s bowled some absolute corkers.
44th over: New Zealand 227-7 (Wheeler 6, Southee 8)
A wicket first ball as Ronchi goes but Southee comes in and hits a ball on middle-stump back over Willey’s head for four! Southee then goes high and not very far but just over Eoin Morgan’s head for two. A very laboured two means Southee has to dive in last minute but just makes it!
Lack of pace off the pitch does for Ronchi, who tries to hit Willey through the line but can’t clear Morgan at mid-off!
43rd over: New Zealand 219-6 (Ronchi 2, Wheeler 6)
Ben Stokes keeping Wheeler very honest, especially considering he wants to get Ronchi on strike. Nothing given away, until he drifts wide and is cut behind point for four!
42nd over: New Zealand 215-6 (Ronchi 2, Wheeler 2)
Good comeback from Willey who gets a wicket first up and, with two men at the crease, settles in to the rest of his over quite nicely.
C bairstow b Willey is vintage
Taylor walks after a first ball that decks across him and edges to Bairstow, who takes a smart catch, diving to his right.
41st over: New Zealand 211-5 (Taylor 46, Ronchi 0)
A chance? Yep, and it definitely should have been taken. Morgan does well to dive to his left as Elliott hits him off the back foot into the covers. Morgs gets two hands to it but it’s down. Good dive, but looked totally under control. Rashid’s annoyed. But he has his man eventually, stumped off a googly. Ronchi, the new man in, gets one first up and just reads it in time. David Willey back into the attack...
Googly from Rashid catches Elliott unawares, who’s charging him anyway. Stumped.
40th over: New Zealand 206-4 (Taylor 45, Elliott 32)
Elliott’s down the track and driving Finn, on the up, down the ground for four! A well worked two and then a fluffed two to fine-leg are followed by a single to the same region.
39th over: New Zealand 197-4 (Taylor 45, Elliott 24)
The first couple of Wood’s over go for four: a poor misfield from Stokes allows a routine pick-up to go through him before Taylor edges wide of the keeper for another. Straight at middle stump and Taylor steps across his stumps, as he does, and flicks behind square for one.
38th over: New Zealand 185-5 (Taylor 34, Elliott 23)
Cracking cut-shot from Elliot and then a quick single puts the pressure on Finn. Short to Taylor, who pulls from over his head for a single to the man on the leg boundary.
37th over: New Zealand 179-2 (Taylor 33, Elliott 18)
Two cracking drives through the off-side – the first going for four, the second cut off by Billings for two.
36th over: New Zealand 172-4 (Taylor 33, Elliott 11)
Batting Power Play taken and Finn to continue. Elliott rocks back and hits Finn high into the leg-side; it’s not timed and so plugs for two. Finn’s fuller and it cuts in, right through Elliott, just missing the off stump. Timed clip for one to Sam Billings, who’s patrolling the leg side boundary.
35th over: New Zealand 168-4 (Taylor 32, Elliott 8)
Elliott happy to take a few risks with Rashid, getting down right in front of his stumps and dabbing the ball behind square on the leg-side for a couple. A man comes in now at leg-slip and Elliott uses his feet to get a single to the man at deep mid off. Appeal to end the over, but it’s bat then pad. As you were.
34th over: New Zealand 163-4 (Taylor 31, Elliott 5)
Finn back into the attack and he’s back on his length, getting a couple past the edge. Crunching drive from Elliott goes straight to the man at short-cover. Good cluster from Finn.
A couple of plugs:
Australia’s Steve Smith stands on top of the world as the Ashes approach– by Barney Ronay
33rd over: New Zealand 161-4 (Taylor 30, Elliott 5)
A wicket first-ball and then a four as Elliott sweeps around the corner for four! Then a sharp punch down past Rashid who manages to get a hand on the ball. A chance? Hmmm perhaps, but there was no way he was catching it with the one hand going down towards the ball. Six from the over.
Santner gets restless, charges and misses as Rashid turns one through him and onto the stumps.
32nd over: New Zealand 155-3 (Taylor 29, Santner 2)
Good over from Stokes - two from the over – as he’s backed by Eoin Morgan with a skeleton cordon and some sound ring-fielders.
31st over: New Zealand 153-3 (Taylor 28, Santner 1)
Mitchell Santner has been sent in ahead of Grant Elliott. He gets on strike to Rashid and can’t quite force him through extra-cover. A single scrambled before another gets Santner back on strike. Rashid serves up a straighter leg-spinner outside off stump which beats the outside edge of the leftie’s bat.
I'll never get sick of listening to Bumble. Should get into the audiobook business. I'd pay good money to hear him read 50 Shades of Grey.
30th over: New Zealand 150-3 (Taylor 26)
A good over from Stokes made better by a fine ball from Stokes that finishes off Guptill, who was trying to guide a ball down to third man. Too close, edge taken and gone.
Stokes gets on in to Guptill that lifts off a length and takes the top edge of his bat, through to Bairstow!
29th over: New Zealand 147-2 (Guptill 66, Taylor 24)
Big turned leg-break pitches outside leg-stump and beats Taylor (and Bairstow). Wider and floatier for Guptill and he gets on one-knee and pounds it through the covers for four! Straighter and a more honest stroke from Guppy. E-mail from John Culley:
28th over: New Zealand 138-2 (Guptill 59, Taylor 22)
Wood going through his whole repertoire – wide of the crease, short run, smiling at Guptill – before he goes short and Guptill upper-cuts him superbly for six! Brilliant comeback ball from Wood, which tails in and then beats Guptill on the outside edge.
27th over: New Zealand 129-2 (Guptill 52, Taylor 20)
Taylor, not wishing to be bogged down, follows a forward defence with a swipe that stings the palms of short extra-cover, who can only palm the ball away.
26th over: New Zealand 125-2 (Guptill 51, Taylor 18)
Four from the over, as both take their time to take things deep – the right move considering the pitch and who New Zealand have down the order.
25th over: New Zealand 121-2 (Guptill 50, Taylor 14)
Guptill gets his fifty – 62 balls, five fours – in a very good Rashid over which goes for just the three singles. England have been great in these middle overs.
Very Yorkshire, this: Rashid bowling, Bairstow keeping wicket, Root at slip...
24th over: New Zealand 118-2 (Guptill 49, Taylor 13)
Wood on for Stokes and it’s a good over before Wood goes short and Taylor hands back and punches through the off side for three.
Related: County cricket – live!
23rd over: New Zealand 114-2 (Guptill 48, Taylor 9)
Good from Rashid to use the pitch’s slowness to his advantage and not give the batsmen any pace to work with. Guptill toes him high to deep mid-on but it bounces short. Good grip for the last couple of balls, too. Jonny B behind the stumps is a big fan.
22nd over: New Zealand 112-2 (Guptill 47, Taylor 8)
The rain eases as Taylor does well to scamper two off the first ball, before he and Guptill exchange the strike. Last ball of the over, Stokes bowls short but rolls his fingers across it, sticking in the pitch. Taylor waits and plays it to the leg side for one.
21st over: New Zealand 107-2 (Guptill 46, Taylor 4)
Bit of drizzle but nothing to have them running for cover. Bit heavier as the over finishes – Rashid getting good dip but nothing that the batsmen can’t handle...
20th over: New Zealand 102-2 (Guptill 44, Taylor 1)
A half-volley from Stokes is put a way comprehensively by Guptill for four takes New Zealand to 100. Then then flicks Stokes around the corner for a single the Durham lad gets Williamson to chop on! Ross Taylor comes out and is off the mark straightaway.
Williamson looks in control but, as Stokes goes short, he tries to get onto a pull shot and plays on, knocking back his own middle stump!
19th over: New Zealand 96-1 (Guptill 39, Williamson 50)
Good working off the pitch and down the track sees Williamson notch his 19th ODI fifty, off 63 balls (five fours, too). Not the worst over from Rashid, but six runs taken pretty easily.
18th over: New Zealand 90-1 (Guptill 37, Williamson 46)
Stokes spoils a good start to his first over with a short-ball that goes to the leg-side and Williamson turns it around the corner for four! Spin next, as Adil Rashid comes into the attack...
17th over: New Zealand 85-1 (Guptill 37, Williamson 41)
Four singles from the first five balls, the last of which nearly results in a run-out as Root collects and throws from mid-off. Looks like Guppy was home easily on the replay. A fifth single to the final ball means Williamson retains the strike. DRINKS
The "Harrogate Spring Water Hydration Break". Get in the damn sea.
16th over: New Zealand 80-1 (Guptill 35, Williamson 38)
An “ooooooh” as Stokes pushes one into Guptill, back of a length, drawing an inside edge behind square on the leg-side, for one. Muted appeal as Williamson hangs back and is struck on the knee roll – not out as the ball was clearly angling down the leg side. Williamson staunch in defending the next one.
15th over: New Zealand 77-1 (Guptill 34, Williamson 36)
Willey playing about the with seam and keeping Williamson in check. He gets off strike eventually with a single down to deep mid off.
14th over: New Zealand 75-1 (Guptill 33, Williamson 35)
Ben Stokes in and Guptill works him away, high over the leg-side for a four. Billings tries to be a hero again but he can’t pull it back in this time. Straighter from Stokes and it’s met by the full face of Guppy’s bat, back down the wicket.
13th over: New Zealand 70-1 (Guptill 28, Williamson 25)
Williamson is stepping right across to the off-side to play Willey as the ball seems to have stopped swinging. A fairly risk-free tactic, especially as anything straight and at the stumps is there to clip. Willey nearly traps Kane in front but there’s bat involved. Typical dab to third-man sees Guptill take strike. Ben Stokes is coming into the attack for Mark Wood...
12th over: New Zealand 68-1 (Guptill 27, Williamson 34)
Just singles from the over, three of them, before Guptill nearly plays on to his stumps with a back foot defensive shot.
11th over: New Zealand 65-1 (Guptill 26, Williamson 32)
David Willey is back into the attack and puts one across Guptill, who goes forward and throws his hands right into it, over cover for four! Brilliant fielding from Sam Billings, who makes up ground from cover to point on the off-side boundary, and times a dive to perfection and saves two!
10th over: New Zealand 59-1 (Guptill 20, Williamson 32)
The 50 partnership is brought up with a clip off Williamson’s hip. It’s come at a run-a-ball and has involved a decent catch-up in the last couple of overs. Wood jumps wide and angles one into Williamson, but wide of his off-stump, and the little master (Part II) has a go. He gets an under-edge, Bairstow gets a hand to it, and it’s just two.
9th over: New Zealand 56-1 (Guptill 19, Williamson 30)
Finn bangs one in short and this time Guptill is in prime position top smashed the ball to the leg-side for a once-bounce four! He then scrambles a single off his inside edge. Williamson on his toes again and it’s a great back-foot punch for four through cover which brings up the NZ fifty. Then an edge, over the head of third-slip (if there was one) for another! Play and miss to finish the over off.
8th over: New Zealand 43-1 (Guptill 14, Williamson 22)
The ball’s in the air! But it’s through the cover fielders – the ball popping on Williamson as he attempts a drive off Wood – and it scuttles away to the boundary for four! Much, much better next up as he drives perfectly back past the bowler for another boundary!
7th over: New Zealand 35-1 (Guptill 14, Williamson 14)
Williamson plays and misses the first ball but is a lot more convincing later in the over as he gets on his toes, then off the ground, to punch a back-foot shot through cover-point for three – that takes him to 1,000 ODI runs in the calendar year!
6th over: New Zealand 31-1 (Guptill 14, Williamson 11)
Mark Wood into the attack now, in familiar surroundings. Movement off the seam sees Williamson thick-edge a full ball through the vacant gully region. Guptill is then rushed Wood with a short-ball, throws his head out of the way and just gets enough to beat the men on the leg-side, aerially, for two. More controlled as Wood goes fuller and Guptill finishes the over with a straight-drive for four!
5th over: New Zealand 24-1 (Guptill 8, Williamson 10)
Good lines from Finn again, as only two come from this over. Not too much off the pitch – gives the impression that once these two, or any two, bed in, runs are to be had.
4th over: New Zealand 22-1 (Guptill 7, Williamson 9)
Ball of the morning so far: Willey shapes one in to Williamson, who goes to play the line of the ball. It pitches and then seams away, just past the outside edge of an immaculate looking defence. Five dots then bring a nice tuck through mid-wicket by Williamson, which goes for two.
3rd over: New Zealand 20-1 (Guptill 7, Williamson 7)
Sharp two from Guptill and Williamson gives the latter two runs behind square on the leg-side. A short-ball from Finn is then punched over mid-wicket for three runs; looks a long boundary that way and that ball sat up in the pitch. Five from the over.
2nd over: New Zealand 14-1 (Guptill 7, Williamson 2)
Swing for David Willey, as Guptill and Williamson pick up a few runs with the odd squirt and push. Most of the swing is in to the right-hander for Willey but there’s the odd one that’s holding its line.
A quick Jonny Bairstow anecdote from Martin Laidler:
“I was in Wellington in 2013 and got to the ground to watch England go through their fielding warm-up drills.
“Jonny Bairstow was having balls rolled out to him before he attempted to hit one stump in the ground which was placed in front of a small net to catch the ball. The balls were rolled out away from the boundary and so the fielders were chucking towards the boundary fence and crowd who were filing in.
“Just as the thought had entered into my head that an errant throw could bounce over the net and into the crowd JB does just that, with the ball flying past me from 40 yards away and smashing a middle aged woman flush on the knee, not just any woman but a woman who was sat in a wheelchair.
“The sound alone made everyone in the vicinity wince and to be fair to JB and the England medical team they rushed over and made sure the woman in question was ok. Which after a few minutes and a hastily fetched ice pack thankfully she was.
“As I was walking back around to the hill to take my spot for the day (incidentally the steepest hill in world cricket) I was wracked with guilt as not only did I have a sneak premonition that such an incident was about to happen I also think I could have made a stretching effort to stop the ball and it was only the take-away cappuccino in my left hand that made me hesitate and watch gormlessly as the red projectile whistled past.
“Hopefully JB keeps his keeper gloves on today.”
1st over: New Zealand 7-1 (Guptill 1)
Not too much swing for Finn, but he’s not really bowled anything full. Nothing too short, either, as he puts Guptill on the back foot, who nicks a single into the off side. McCullum has a couple of sighters and then charges Finn and plants him over mid-on for six! But he’s gone next ball! Big wicket caps a good over from Finn.
The ball after being smashed over his head for six, Finn gets one to push McCullum back and seam in a touch and B-Mac plays on!
The players are out – David Willey and Mark Wood are in short-sleeves. Heroes.
Steven Finn to open up...
IMPORTANT CORRECTION FROM THE TWITTERSPHERE REGARDING OUT RECURRING SERIES WITH NEW ZEALAND...
@Vitu_E Surely that's The Ishiz (as a pom in Oz who can't get either accent right)
A good morning to Simon McMahon:
“Morning Vish. If this match is half as good as what’s gone before then we’re in for a cracker. As for being called an OBO bandit, I like it. Although I prefer Hobo. Or Poboy.”
Tim from Darwin e-mails in with some interesting numbers:
“I was wondering just how close these sides have been thus far and the numbers stack up as follows after four games:
Rain in the air at Durham (never!) and we’ve got a delayed start Chester-le-Street.
Doesn’t look particularly heavy but the main cover is on, as are the sheets for the run-ups. More as and when I’m told by my TV...
“Is anyone else slightly disconcerted at finding themselves as an ‘OBO-bandit’?” writes Steve Hudson.
“I have an idea.” We’re all eyes, Ant...
“Every Test and ODI on this tour has seen brilliant cricket played by what seem like nice people in an aggressive yet respectful manner. It’s been wonderful to watch.
“Rather than the ongoing rigmarole with the sub-likeable Aussies, let’s play the Kiwis twice every 4 years instead. Bearing in mind our antipodean cousins’ ongoing trouble with vowel sounds, we should call the series The Eshis.”
TOSS NEWS: Brendon calls heads... and it’s tails!
Eoin Morgan has decided to bowl first, sighting the overhead conditions. Brendon McCullum would have done the same: “It’s like Dunedin – it’s pretty cold!”
THE DECIDER! Morning, OBO-bandits – Vish here …
This is what we’ve all been waiting for. At least, it was when we fully appreciated just how much fun these Kiwis are and how exciting England’s emoji-generation can be when they get things right.
The early news is that Jos Buttler misses out after splitting the webbing in his hand yesterday. The Guardian’s Ali Martin has more...
No Jos Buttler for today's series finale. Split webbing between thumb and forefinger of left hand in practice. Expect Bairstow in
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