Tom Latham and Devon Conway both pass 150 as Black Caps take control against England
Friday, 26 June 2026
Black Caps openers Devon Conway and Tom Latham each passed 150 to seize control on day one of the deciding test against England at Trent Bridge.
They shared 317 for the first wicket but were dismissed late in the day as the tourists finished on 361-4 at stumps.
The three-match series was level at 1-1 and the Black Caps had to omit Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry because of injury.
Third test, Trent Bridge: New Zealand 361-4 (Devon Conway 157, Tom Latham 151) vs England. Click here for full scoreboard.
The Black Caps applied the heat on the hosts as openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway made big centuries on day one of the third and final test.
New Zealand’s second-highest stand for the first wicket — 317, at a rapid clip in 72.1 overs — helped them reach stumps on Friday (NZ time) at 361-4 in Nottingham and poised to apply further pressure on England later in the encounter as they seek a rare series win there.
The only downside for NZ was losing Rachin Ravindra (7) and Henry Nicholls (36) in consecutive balls to end the day to the second new-ball and give the hosts a late lift.
Both openers were battling for form coming into the last match of the three-test series, with the score level at 1-1.
Neither had managed a half-century between them in the the eight innings previously, after both had missed out in the one-off test versus Ireland at the end of last month.
But on a day where temperatures reached the mid-30s, on a pitch near-perfect for day-one batting, Latham’s 17th test century drew him level with the late, great Martin Crowe.
It was the eighth test ton for fellow left-hander Conway, who made a rapid return home between the first and second tests for the arrival of his second child.
Only Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis have combined to put on more runs for the first-wicket in a test innings for NZ, with a partnership of 387 versus the West Indies at Georgetown in April 1972.
In near complete control, the captain faced 214 balls and hit 15 fours in making 151 before finally departing, while Conway fell in the following over after thumping 22 fours and three sixes in his 224-ball 157.
Latham got a handshake from his former team-mate and current England coach Brendon McCullum as he entered the pavilion and would have then been able to reflect on a near perfect day for him and his side, after he called correctly at the coin toss.
The captain already knew after the second test he would be heading into the final match without the services of pace bowler Kyle Jamieson, who had been designed to play just two tests in the series after twice recovering from back stress fractures.
But Jamieson was then joined as viewers instead of participants by Glenn Phillips and Matt Henry.
The side-strain suffered by Phillips — possibly while relying on all of his athleticism to avoid a string of short deliveries from Jofra Archer in the second test at The Oval — solved the headache facing coach Rob Walter and Latham as to how to include left-arm spin bowling allrounder Mitchell Santner into the XI.
Henry this week was recognised as the top test bowler in the world on the ICC rankings — for just the third time in NZ history, after Sir Richard Hadlee and Jack Cowie — after taking 11 wickets in a match-winning display at The Oval, which left him with a calf strain.
That ensured the tourists had made four changes from the team which lost the first test at Lord’s — none of them on form.
With the pitch already losing its glimpses of green, returned England captain Ben Stokes turned to spin after just 10 overs. Offspinner Shoaib Bashir then delivered nine overs before lunch — the most by an England spinner in the first session of a home test since 2013.
The hosts were trying to rotate their quicks in the searing conditions, and got just four overs notably short of full speed from Archer initially.
Conway was fortunate not to fall in Bashir’s first over, with his uppish drive beating Joe Root’s fingers at short cover.
His biggest let-off came on 71, again against Bashir, when the bowler, his team-mates and Stokes decided not to challenge the not out decision following an lbw decision. They felt Conway had got the inside edge of his bat to the delivery, but replays showed that wasn’t the case and the ball had been predicted to hit the stumps.