Test bonanza a write-off if Black Caps can’t overcome beleaguered England
Friday, 12 June 2026
ANALYSIS: If the Black Caps can’t mentally best England in the second test, their World Test Championship campaign is as good as over.
New Zealand looked to have the perfect opportunity to reverse an alarming trend of being dominated by Brendon McCullum’s team at Lord’s to start the three-test series, but a poor pitch turned the match into more of a lottery than a contest of skills.
Still, the tourists failed to match their opposition as England found a way to win their seventh victory over their rivals in the past nine tests, with fielding errors costly.
England entered the series under immense pressure, with McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes just surviving a review into the woeful Ashes tour of Australia.
Yet NZ let them off the hook in London, to the delight of the home captain, who celebrated in a nightclub, and in doing so broke a team curfew along with team-mate Gus Atkinson, while a member of England’s security staff was reportedly struck by a rugby player.
Stokes and Atkinson - who took seven wickets in the first test - were dropped from the squad for the second test and England’s managing director Rob Key was forced to deny the team were 'a national embarrassment' when fronting the media.
Veteran batter and former skipper Joe Root has taken over the captaincy for the second test, with Key conceding that the job is too big for official vice-captain Harry Brook right now.
Key faced a string of questions around behaviour, curfews and alcohol.
“Only six months ago, in Melbourne, he was forced to deny there was a drinking culture in the team. This time, there was a change of tune and an acknowledgement that his players could not necessarily be trusted to do the right thing,” former England captain Mike Atherton wrote in The Times.
While pace bowler Jofra Archer will join the second test squad along with batter Jordan Cox, the hosts have to be viewed by the Black Caps as there for the taking.
If Matt Henry has recovered from the back problems which severely limited him at Lord’s, NZ will have a first-choice XI to be selected, with possible room for spin-bowling allrounder Mitchell Santner.
The knock on a very good Black Caps test team for more than a decade has been its inability to beat the elite sides, particularly away from home. They did produce a stunning 3-0 series victory in India in late 2024, but followed it with a lacklustre series loss at home soon after to an England team which appears to have a hold over Tom Latham’s troops.
The Black Caps then must seize a second chance to pile pressure on a host side under the microscope. Failure to do so would not only be a massive setback in their quest to make the World Test Championship final, but also indicate that there would be minimal hope that they could launch a challenge in the summer’s four-test series in Australia, where they’ve won just one test in their past 25 encounters.
Opener Devon Conway is expected to be available when the second test starts on Wednesday, after returning to Wellington to welcome the birth of his second child.
The left-hander, who made a dogged 41 in the second innings of the 115-run defeat at Lord's, was to spend some time at home with family in Wellington before returning to England.
The Black Caps players had been given time off after the first test, before training on Friday, with another day off scheduled for Saturday.
Batters should have far fewer problems on The Oval pitch. In the most recent County Championship match at the venue, 1114 runs were scored for the loss of 27 wickets in the draw between Surrey and Hampshire, with former England test batter Dan Lawrence making 218 from 190 balls.