Bowlers shine as Black Caps get back on top over England in third test

Sunday, 28 June 2026

Third test, Trent Bridge: New Zealand 438 and 120-3 (Rachin Ravindra 60 not out) vs England 354 (Ben Duckett 113, Jacob Bethell 74, Harry Brook 58; Nathan Smith 4-91, Zak Foulkes 3-35, Will O’Rourke 3-53). Click here for full scoreboard.

It could have been one of Nathan Smith’s most memorable days.

Smith took 4-91 as the visitors bounced back from a poor day two to again dictate terms against England in the third and final test in Nottingham.

At stumps on day three, New Zealand were 120-3 in their second innings, giving them an overall lead of 204, with Rachin Ravindra (60*) and Daryl Mitchell (26*) at the crease.

But Smith’s hopes that he would have another reason to be delighted disappeared when his partner Melie Kerr’s White Ferns team was eliminated from the women’s T20 World Cup with a nine-wicket loss to England in London later in the day.

In the men’s test-series decider, England resumed their first innings on Saturday night (NZ time) at 223-2 after dragging themselves back into the contest.

But Smith halted their progress by removing the second-highest runscorer in test history, again trapping overnight batter Joe Root lbw, with wicketkeeper Tom Blundell once more standing up to the stumps.

It was the fourth time the NZ seamer has taken Root’s wicket in 105 balls in tests between the two sides as England’s mainstay’s lbw problems of late continued - after falling in that manner just six times in 105 previous innings, he’s done so six times in his past eight turns at bat.

Smith’s demanding accuracy - combined with the pressure Blundell applied on England’s middle-order - on a wearing pitch ensured that he is now the leading wicket-taker in the series, with 13 victims at an average of 21.71.

Smith made the trip to Southampton to see Kerr team-mates suffer an upset loss to the West Indies at the start of their tournament, while the White Ferns captain was at Lord's as Smith got on the honours board with his bowling in NZ’s first-test victory.

'Normally, one of us is at home and one of us is away,' Smith told Cricinfo recently.

'That's the other thing: your time together is never normally at home. Other players go home and have their families there, and their time off is at home. For us, it's a little bit different. It's like time off just wherever: hotel rooms, normally. But it's all good… It's nice to be in the same time zone, at least.'

Smith is probably the least-mentioned member of the Black Caps first-choice pace bowling quartet, behind Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Will O’Rourke.

But after making his test debut against England at Hagley Oval near the end of 2024, the 27-year-old is proving his worth.

'For my first year to 18 months of international cricket, I was on the fringe, in and out,' Smith said.

'Every training session felt like a game to me… It took a lot out of me mentally, and I probably wasn't the best partner to be around. But the understanding is there: she [Kerr] definitely understands how hard it can be.'

Injuries sidelined him during the tour of Zimbabwe and the home series against the West Indies last year, but the right-armer came back fit and confident. He took eight wickets in the test win over Ireland last month, and backed that up with match figures of 9-108 at Lord’s.

At Trent Bridge on day three, Smith got super assistance from O’Rourke and Zak Foulkes as the Black Caps captured eight wickets for 131 runs to dismiss England for 354 and establish a lead of 84 on the first innings.

Foulkes is only now playing in this test after Blair Tickner was concussed by a Jofra Archer bouncer on day two. He produced a brilliant inswinger to bowl left-handed England captain Ben Stokes for 15, and a similarly inspired delivery removed vice-captain Harry Brook, who had got to 58 from 80 balls.

First-innings dual century-makers Tom Latham and Devon Conway could manage just nine runs between them in NZ’s second innings as both fell to Archer, but Ravindra’s attacking, unbeaten knock left them well-placed to score a series victory.