Black Caps v England: Glenn Phillips’ maiden century, bowlers give New Zealand upper hand at The Oval

The Black Caps have taken the ascendancy in the second test against England at The Oval, and hold a 169-run lead at stumps on day two.

After losing the toss and being asked to bat on day one, Glenn Phillips’ maiden test century lifted New Zealand to an above-par 391, before the Black Caps’ seamers left the hosts at 222-6 in reply.

Having survived difficult batting conditions and a barrage of short balls from Jofra Archer the night before, Phillips scored an exact 100 from 135 balls to become the third New Zealander to record triple figures in all three forms of the game.

The 29-year-old was excellent in marshalling the lower order, courtesy of an attacking 87-run stand with Kyle Jamieson (41), with 72 of his runs coming in boundaries and giving another indication why he should bat higher than No 7, as clearly one of the best six batters in New Zealand.

With the ball, Matt Henry made up for lost time after clearly being below his best at Lord’s with back spasms, and took England’s two most important wickets – interim captain Joe Root (46) and Harry Brook (24).

Henry was supported by the enforcer-like Will O’Rourke (2-61) who made excellent use of the short ball for his strikes, while Nathan Smith (1-36) carried on his fine form with the ball after 17 wickets in his two previous tests.

And while it will never appear on any scorecard, Tom Blundell’s influence with the gloves told, as his standing up to the stumps to Henry led to the wickets of Root and Brook – who were trapped on the crease to fall LBW.

For England, opener Emilio Gay continued with the form he showed at Lord’s to make 53 from 114 balls, and added 74 runs with his captain. Like the Black Caps 24 hours earlier, though, England’s top order gave their wickets away after making starts.

Debutant Jordan Cox (22 not out) will carry England’s hopes into day three, joined by Archer – batting at No 8 as part of an exceptionally long tail for the hosts – hoping to reduce the deficit by as much as possible before the Black Caps bat again.

Resuming at 291-7, Phillips needed just two balls to reach 50, as he and Jamieson added 27 in the first three overs to push the score beyond 300. Jamieson played his part, despite being hit on the head twice, but was an exceptional foil for Phillips, as the pair reached their 50-stand in just 52 balls.

Even after losing Jamieson, Phillips passed his highest test score, before a top-edged pull took him into the 90s. When Root returned to Archer in search of the breakthrough, Phillips showed no nerves to reach triple figures, and only perished in the push for quick runs as the last man to fall.

However, the tricky wicket that greeted the Black Caps on day one had begun to flatten out, as England’s openers responded with 45 at close to a run a ball either side of the break.

Ben Duckett raced to 36 off 25 balls, but was sold up the river by Gay, and run out by Smith attempting to steal a single. New Zealand struck just once more in the afternoon when Smith had Bethell (9) caught behind by Blundell at 68-2, but Gay and Root saw the hosts to tea without further loss.

Gay fell two balls after reaching his half-century when a brutal ball from O’Rourke took the edge to Blundell, only given out after captain Tom Latham smartly reviewed, after minimal appeal from the Black Caps.

And after being limited at Lord’s, Henry asserted himself as the leader of New Zealand’s attack by ripping the heart out of England’s batting line-up to expose an inexperienced middle order.

As Root closed in on 50 and 14,000 test runs, England’s stand-in skipper was pinned LBW by a Henry nip-backer for 46, before Brook suffered the same fate one over later. Root was stuck going forward to a ball he should have gone back to, while Brook did the opposite, as 142-2 became 177-5.

Both batting in test cricket for the first time, the sixth wicket pair of James Rew (24) and Cox at the very least saw England avoid the follow-on, and pass 200 before the end of play.

Rew was given a life on 23 when he was dropped by Ravindra at fine leg off O’Rourke, but only added one more to his total before giving a similar chance to Daryl Mitchell at slip.

New Zealand 391 (Phillips 100; Bethell 3-26)

England 222-6 (Gay 53; Henry 2-57)

New Zealand lead by 169 runs

Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.