Latham, Conway make huge opening stand for Black Caps in third test against England
Friday, 26 June 2026
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 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.
Matchday situation and what to expect on day two
Bizarrely, England left the field after a sapping 84.1 overs feeling pretty good about themselves, despite giving up 361 runs.
After Latham and Conway finally fell in quick succession, ‘one brings two’ again occurred as stumps drew near.
Much of the congratulations for the wicket of Ravindra went to Bashir, whose diving stop of a Nicholls’ leg-glance on the boundary was rewarded the next ball. But NZ may feel somewhat aggrieved, as it appeared TV replays showed four runs should have been awarded than the three given.
If the hosts can remove nightwatcher Will O’Rourke quickly, they’ll lift their hopes of limiting the damage of what was closing in on an insurmountable tally before Latham was dismissed.
Yet if Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Santner and Nathan Smith can respond, the Black Caps bowlers - with Ben Sears playing his third test and joined by Blair Tickner as replacements for Henry and Jamieson - will then have their tails up late on day two.
In the third and final test of the series in 2022 between the two sides at the same venue, NZ lost the test despite making 553 batting first, against a home team revelling in their new ‘Bazball’ approach.
Stats of the day
Latham and Conway’s stand was the highest partnership for any wicket by a New Zealand pair against England.
It usurped the 276 opening partnership between Stewie Dempster and Jackie Mills at the Basin Reserve 96 years ago, in just NZ’s second test.
Yet it wasn’t the duo’s highest test partnership - they put on 323 in the first innings versus the West Indies at Mount Maunganui at the end of last year - which they backed up in the second innings with a stand of 192 as both players made tons in each innings.
They became only the third opening pair to share a partnership of 300-plus runs in a test in England, while NZ’s 361-4 were the most runs they’d made in a day in a test match in England.
Their previous best was 352 on day two of the second test at Lord’s in 1949. Martin Donnelly made NZ’s first double-century - 206 in 355 minutes - in the three-day test.
When Turner (259) and Jarvis (182) made their record stand for NZ, the pace was snail-like. Batting on the third day, 90 overs saw them reach stumps at 163 without loss. Turner eventually batted for 759 balls, and Jarvis for 555 deliveries.
What they said
Conway told Sky Sports UK soon after stumps that he’d quickly abandoned a plan to alter his technique.
“I’ve felt out of sorts at times - I’ve been struggling with my pre-movement this series,” he said after second century in his 12th test against England, after making 200 on his test debut against them at Lord’s in 2021.
“I was trying out keeping my back foot still, not having that pre-movement. I tried it for three balls, then went back to getting the movement in there.”