LONDON — Kane who?
Henry Nicholls, recalled by New Zealand to replace retired great Kane Williamson, smacked an unbeaten century against England to help boost their lead to a formidable 352 on day three Friday of The Oval test.
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New Zealand was 252-3 in its second innings at stumps, effectively 352-3 after earning a hefty 100-run first innings lead by dismissing England for 291 on the stroke of lunch.
Nicholls reached stumps on 119 and featured on a blue sky day with Rachin Ravindra, out for 76. They first steadied the innings, rebuilt it, then flayed England after tea.
Their partnership of 161 from 201 balls is New Zealand’s highest ever at The Oval.
New Zealand is under pressure to win the match to set up a series decider in the third test in Nottingham next week. The Black Caps will be wary of giving England a sniff after being chased down in all three tests on the last tour in 2022.
New Zealand has seven wickets in hand and time to impose a 500-run lead before unleashing its resting pace attack.
England’s highest successful fourth-innings chase to win at The Oval was 263 against Australia in 1902, and its highest ever anywhere was 378-3 against India in 2022 at Edgbaston at the start of Bazball.
Nicholls landed in London only last Sunday to fill the shoes of New Zealand’s highest run-scorer, who retired mid-series.
“(Williamson retiring) was a bit of a shock to everyone,” he said. “I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of my cricket with Kane. I wasn’t ever going to be able to replace him. I just really enjoyed being back in test cricket, you want to contribute. It was fun, the partnership with Rachin and with Daryl (Mitchell) at the end there.”
Nicholls walked out at 8-1 in the third over of the second innings to face fast bowler Jofra Archer hitting 147 kph (91mph). Nicholls survived, lost Devon Conway soon after, and dug in with Ravindra.
They gradually took the sting out of England and lulled a packed crowd bathing in sunshine.
Nicholls kept his head down while Ravindra looked to play shots, so offered chances. He was dropped on 7 by wicketkeeper James Rew, a tough, low chance that spilled out of his left glove.
Rew, on debut, has come under scrutiny. He missed a chance when Nicholls was on 42 and is the second England keeper in the last 20 years to drop at least two catches and concede at least 25 byes in a game; Matt Prior was the other in 2014. Rew conceded 22 byes in the first innings — not all his fault — and five on Friday.
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Nicholls and Ravindra reached tea with patient 30s, and flicked a switch. After grinding down the English bowlers through the afternoon, the pair went after them after tea at nearly six runs per over with superb timing and placing.
Nicholls was first to 50, off 72 balls, followed by Ravindra, off 79, for his first fifty against England.
England despaired and it wasn’t until captain Joe Root gave the ball to part-time slow left-armer Jacob Bethell that England started to make things happen. Bethell led with three wickets in the first innings and broke two big New Zealand partnerships.
He did it again when Ravindra missed an attempted sweep and was out lbw for 76 off 99 balls, 60 of those runs off boundaries.
Nicholls raised his hundred 20 minutes later off 133 balls, smashing Bethell to the midwicket fence for his 14th boundary. His 11th test century in his 59th test was also his second against England, the previous in 2018 in Auckland. He also had back-to-back hundreds after an unbeaten 150 last August in Zimbabwe.
Nicholls took off his helmet, saluted the warm applause from the crowd with his bat, and got on with it.
Together with Mitchell, 32 not out, they scored 63 runs off the day’s last 86 balls without drama. Nicholls was basking on 119 from 164 balls.
Williamson never played a test at The Oval.
In the morning, New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry claimed a five-wicket haul thanks to three sharp catches by Tom Latham, keeper Tom Blundell incredibly up at the stumps, and Nathan Smith while falling backwards.
Henry, New Zealand’s senior seamer, was reduced by back spasms to a spectator in the first test at Lord’s but roared back here with 5-80, his seventh test 5-for and sixth 5-for in his last 12 tests.
England was 238-9, trailing New Zealand by 153 runs, and likely expecting to be bowling inside the day’s first hour.
But No. 9 batter Matthew Fisher, in his second test, and No. 11 Sonny Baker, on debut, with no test runs between them, stubbornly refused to follow the script. Fisher led with 48 of their 53 runs together and Baker resisted 35 deliveries for his 4. Fisher finished 50 not out off 77 balls and drew The Oval to their feet.
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