Jonny Bairstow rescues England with scintillating counter-attacking century

Englands' unbroken, record seventh-wicket partnership have put on 209 so far to rescue them from 55 for six. Jonny Bairstow made his second successive Test century and Jamie Overton, on debut, 89 not out. On another remarkable day of Bazball, England have scored at 5.38 an over. It's been astounding to watch. And let's not how well the holy trinity of Boult, Southee and Wagner bowled with the new ball. It was masterly - and then the ball stopped swinging and Bairstow and Overton had the nerve and skill to counter. 

The physio comes on to push up Bairstow's toes to alleviate the cramp. Boult nips one past his edge when he resumes. After watching that jaffa whizz by, Bairstow plays for the close, cautiously and judiciously until given a stright one to finish and he whips it off his toes for a single. 

The final over of the day has to start by 6.30pm at the latest. Will Overton chance it? Williamson cannily chews up a bit of time with field adjustments. Overton whisks a single off his pads and Bairstow gives him the strike straight back with a Root-steer through point. Bairstow is limping now. Cramp? Overton plays out three dot balls. One more over at best now. New Zealand will be keen to get in. What a big dipper ride for them today.  

A leg-bye takes them to the top of the seventh-wicket partnership tree and Bairstow raises the double century stand with a back cut through the slips for four. They've made 202 off 209 balls. Everyone loves Bazball. Bairstow ends Boult's 15th over by climbing into a pull and tope edging it for four down to fine leg. There is a man down there but nowhere near it. 

England's highest seventh-wicket partnership anywhere is the 197 Jim Parks an MJK Smith put on against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1960. Well it was. Bairstow levels it when he drives Southee over mid-on for four. 

England's equal highest seventh-wicket Test partnership. Amazing. 

Rush of blood from Overton who thinks he can make his ground though Bairstow has dropped the ball at his own feet via an inside edge. Bairstow hollers 'No! No! No!' Overton raises his hand in apology.  England trail by 82. 

Southee drops short and Bairstow pulls it hard for four so Southee pitches up and he plays and misses. The bowler  tries that again and Bairstow pumps another off-drive for four. Extraordinary.  England have scored 74 off the last 10 overs and the run rate is over 5.5 per over. 

Home hero Jonny Bairstow brings up his 10th Test century, his second in successive innings and fourth in the last seven Tests, with a magnificent on-drive off Trent Boult. Overton folds him into an exuberant bear hug. He knows his job is not done and carries on in his own YJB way, dabbing a cut through the slips for four.

That brings the deficit down to double digits.

Boult does beat him with a jaffa outside off and England reduce the lead to 94 with a  couple of leg-byes. 

Ah Johnny. What a talent. Mitchell pitches up and, though he had been troubled by his dobbers in the revious over, he creams an on drive for four and then hustles a single with a flick off his toes.

Jamie Overton is treated to a full one at 75mph from Mitchell and he thunders a straight drive past the bowler for four, It was over the rope before Mitchell had completed his followthrough. 

Overton flicks a single off Southee through midwicket, Bairstow pans a cut for another and Overton unveils that cover drive again, spanking it across the practice pitches for two. The partnership is now 161 and NZ's lead down to 113. We were looking at a three day Test here when Foakes was out. 

Mitchell is a trundler but keeps Bairstow quiet with his floaty seamers that do wobble around. Bairstow pulls his hands inside the line of one that fizzes down the channel and cannot pierece the infield until the final ball that is wider and Bairstow jabs it through cover for two. 

Bairstow whips a single off off-stump through midwicket. That was the  only drama of the over, I write gratefully. Too much going on all the time with this team   

NZ want Boult to bowl but he hasn't been back on the field long enough after a break so Daryl Mitchell will have a spell. Pace off. Boult cannot bowl until 5.45pm. 

Bairstow brings up the 150 partnership, a record for England's seventh wicket against NZ, with a single sliced through point. 

Mitchell fires the next ball into Overton's pads and hollers an appeal that not one of his team-mates bothers to chorus. Probably because Overton hit the cover off it. When Mitchell goes for the channel, Overton loosens his wrists, plays late and steers it behind point for four.  

Good Lord. It's very inviting to characterise Overton as a horny handed son of the soil, particularly when he stands and pulls and cracks, like a clay pigeon slinger, a massive six into the Western Terrace. Wagner pitches the next ball up and Overton, who had retreated on to the back foot improvises magnificently to whoosh his hands through the line and lamp it for four through mid-off. Now the short ball is coming. And indeed it does. Overton steps away to leg and carves it over cover for four more. They're saving Test cricket boundary by boundary. 

Barcewell continues. New Zealand seem a bit frazzled to say the least. From having them six down for 55, England have put on 127 without loss. Bairstow slog sweeps for four then takes the single on offer down to the point sweeper. Overton scythes a cut through point for three to keep the rate chugging along. 

Overton's all right and so is his helmet. Just to prove it he throws his bat at a pull that flies off the bottom of the bat through first slip for four. There is no first slip, only a third. 

Out go the boundary sentries for a spell of Wagner leg theory and, of course, he pitches the second one up. Bairstow improvises a chip that only just clears a leaping mid-off for three runs. Wagner does bang one in to Overton but it rises gently and Overton swivels to smash it through midwicket for four and a maiden Test fifty on debut. 

The fifth ball of the over does get up off the pitch and clanks Overton on the lid as he shapes to pull. His helmet and head will need assessing so on come the drinks, too. 

The umpires send a review for a stumping when Overton loses his balance extending the broom to sweep  but his tow was firmly anchored and Bracewell goes back to his mark. He has only been bowling properly for a couple of years and, as such, is prone to error. Twice he drops short and Overton slaps the first off the back foot through cover and late cuts the second down to third man for three to take him to 49.  England are going at more than five an over. 

Wagner isn't quick and now the swing has gone, anything full is in the slot for Bairstow who thumps the first ball of the over through mid-on for four, his bat hardly extending beyond six o'clock, a check-drive par excellence.  After Bairstow pulls for a single, Wagner jumps and turns to bellow a leg-before appeal but this time there definitely were two noises and Marais Erasmus' shakes his round noggin.

Overton's a nifty mover for a big lad, quickstepping back into his crease to cuff the of-fbreak into the legside for a single. Bracewell drags one down to Bairstow who pulls it witheringly for four and then on drives for two and sweeps for a single. Speaking of dancefloor Overton skips downtoen to the last ball and deposits it with a big swing over long on for six! That went miles. Hundred partnership for the seventh wicket!

Wagner replaces Southee, hangs his first ball a tad too wide and Bairstow cleaves it down throw third man for four. It wasn't all that far from the cover point but it was too quick for him to save. Bairstow and Overton glean a single apiece and extend their partnership to 88. 

Time for some spin. Bracewell bowled with dip and bounce in the first innings at Trent Bridge and then got carted by Ben Stokes. Overton drops to one knee to sweep down to the fine leg boundary for four then hunkers deep in his crease to flick a single through square leg. Bairstow misses out on a pull when the drag down stays low and a slog sweep but filches the strike with a whisk off the back foot into the inside. 

Bairstow reaches across to thump a drive through extra cover for two. Conway runs at full pelt to make a diving stop. Southee comes wider on the crease and Bairstow misses two balls he tries to flick then on-drives a gorgeous four which means they have avoided the follow-on. They're still 198 behind though.  

Southee stops a checked drive off his own bowling and shapes to hurl down Bairstow's stumps but the ball popped out of his grasp before he drew it back to unleash. 

Nasser Hussain thinks Boult is trying to set Bairstow up by going across, across, across before sliding in the inswinger. But he hasn't been able to swing this replacement ball back in all that much yet. Bairstow clips a single down to third man and Overton plays very solidly until one is pushed wider and he wafts after it. 

Fifty for Bairstow, brought up with successive fours through third man, the first glided a la Root off a virtually vertical bat and an opening of the wrists, the second was a delicious late cut off Southee. England need six to save the follow on. 

Boult is swinging this replacement ball too, hooping it into Overton who inside edges the one that swings most on to his knee. There's a short midwicket there but, as Overton is not wearing the rebounder pads of Sunil Gavasker, it drops short. 

Immediate evidence of swing albeit it gentle from the new ball. Bairstow goes with the shape and prods a single through cover. A touch more outswing for Southee to Overton who goes for his square drive but it scoots off the edge behind third man for four. Can he make it move the other way? You bet, almost cutting Overton in half as it nibbled past the inside edge. 

Overton raises the fifty partnership with a dreamy, creamy off drive for four. The kid can bat. The swing is far more elusive now for Boult who comes round the wicket to the burly bowler, hangs one outside off and Overton carves two behind point and ends the over by pulling for two more.  It's not right but it's OK. 

Coincidentally, as the ball stops swinging, NZ want to change it. And out come the rings and it fails its test at the first attempt. Time for a new one. 

Five thousand Test runs for Young Jonny B when he adds a glorious, checked cover drive for four to two square drives for a pair of deuces off Southee. But lest he thinks he's 'in'.  Southee whizzes one past off stump when he decides to leave on length. Very tight. But if anyone knows Headingley and its itches, its Bairstow. 

Boult replaces Wagner who stands at mid-on for his fellow left-armer. Bairstow pulls a single with his arms tucked in tight to his sides for a single. Overton defends competently and even when trapped by the inswinger he managed to get his leg out of the line. 

The rain forecast in Leeds for 4pm has been pushed back to midnight by the Met Office

No bat but it was going down NZ have one review left now. 

Overton lbw b Boult Two noises. 

Southee starts with a really good nut to Bairstow, pitching on off and holding its line when the angle suggested it would keep coming in. It whistles past the edge of Bairstow's TON bat. TON. What sort of name is that? It's like calling a football 'hat-trick'. 

Bairstow plays discreetly until given a bit of width and he square drives for a single. 

Tim Southee has the ball. 

Alex Lees

Dropped second ball trying to cut Trent Boult, it was Lees’s misfortune to then meet a perfect left-armer’s delivery to a left-hander: angled in from over the wicket, pitching on middle stump, then leaving the bat and uprooting the top of off stump. 

Verdict: Not guilty 

Ollie Pope

Swung and then seamed back into Pope, curving back into his stumps to defeat a push. The consummate left-armer’s dismissal to a right-hander.

Verdict: Not guilty 

Zak Crawley

Where the batsmen could assume little culpability for Boult’s first two wickets, the third man that he clean bowled, Crawley, left an inviting gate between bat and pad for the ball to pass through. 

Verdict: Guilty 

Joe Root

Sumptuous bowling from Tim Southee set-up Root with a series of deliveries bowled from narrow to the crease, before a delivery from wider generated a new angle, leading to Root being dismissed pushing at a ball that he could have left. 

Verdict: Not guilty 

Ben Stokes

Evidently decided that walking out to a position of 21-4 demanded only attack: advanced down the wicket and launched his third ball for six before, attempting to do the same when Neil Wagner was introduced, chipped tamely to mid on.

Verdict: Guilty 

Ben Foakes

Bats at a very different tempo to the rest of the top order, and defeated third ball by a fine in swinger from Neil Wagner - a dismissal that raised questions about technique, but not approach. 

Verdict: Not guilty 

Well, Bob, of Bob, Ben and Baz fame, did warn us to buckle up. A session of eight wickets, some masterly swing bowling from NZ's holy trinity, and a counter-attack that blazed brightly but only briefly. Had a touch of Aftermyth of War about it from 21 for four:

I want you to lay down your life, Perkins. We need a futile gesture at this stage. It will raise the whole tone of the war. Get up in a crate, Perkins, pop over to Bremen, take a shufti, don’t come back.

We'll be back at the top of the hour. 

Bairstow has to adjust hastily to jam out an inswinging yorker from Wagner which carroms off through his legs for a single. Overton trots a leg-bye off his hip and Bairstow goes in for his snap with a final single of the session, twisted off middle and off through square leg. 

Bairstow whisks a pair of singles off his pads, Overton squirts another single off the inside edge and we will have one more over before tea. After that overdose of Bazball from Stokes and Bairstow, England have managed to breathe into a paper bag and slow their raging hearts.

Another replay of the Overton caught behind shows a murmur on Snicko a foot after the ball passed the bat. Either picture and sound are not in sync, which would be very unusual, or there was another noise. A crackling bat handle? A creaky knee. 

Put him down. Wagner drops a caught and bowled effort to his right in his followthrough when the ball sticks in the pitch and Bairstow is on it too soon, ladling it back up the pitch. Wagner thrust out his hand too far and it clocked him on the wrist. 

Southee replaces Boult and celebrates the 'Overton wicket' .Thank goodness DRS is working. Next ball squares him up and pins him above the knee but it was too high and going down. They trot a leg bye and get there before Southee's appeal dies in his throat.  

He didn't. There was quite a gap between bat and ball. 

Overton c Blundell b Southee Doesn't think he hit it. 

Schwing! Overton Harrow drives for two down to fine leg but eschews the inside edge for the meat of the bat to smear a cover drive off Wagner's inswinger for four. He likes to drive ... and does so again, this time with more toe than middle to take a single to point. Bairstow pushes two down to the boundary rider at cover point. 

Bairstow flicks a single off his pads and ends the over pivoting to pull hard and flat through square leg for four. Overton, having been given his life, opens the face of his Millichamp & Hall bat (you can take the lad out of Somerset ...) to steer a single down to third man.

England go above the 2019  nadir of 67 all out. 

Mark Butcher is saying that England's approach has been all wrong, that the ball will stop swinging and they should have dug firmer foundations.  Yes, Stokes and Crawley got themselves out with reckless strokes. The other four were done by wonderful deliveries. 

Wagner should have a third when he hoops one into Overton's shin. He thinks it was going down but was actually hitting leg stump. Having burned a review in his last over, he did not take a chance. 

Boult continues. Bairstow uses the length to scythe a cut down past point for a single, Overton pulls to make his first Test run and Bairstow leg glances another. Both Overtons can bat and Jamie shows his smarts with a crunching cover drive when Boult pitches it up straining for inswing so it sat up invitingly outside off when it failed to obey the bowler.  

Three brilliant swing bowlers bowling brilliantly. Wagner ends the over reviewing when he traps Overton on the knee but it's a waste because it pitched outside leg. Nonethless, what a start - 1-1-0-2. Where's he been all series? 

Foakes lbw b Wagner 0 Yes, three reds, would have knocked back middle and leg. He played outside an inswinger that hooped in and pinned him on the knee. Three-ball duck for the England keeper.  FOW 55/6

Foakes lbw b Wagner 0 Looks out to me. 

Stokes c Williamson b Wagner 18 The Old Sorcerer weaves his spell, Stokes comes down but he loses his grip on the drive because it swings and is not quite where he thought it would be, the bat swivels in his hand and he slices it to mid-off.  England are 55/5,  which, appropriately for Stokes, is a packet of fags. FOW 55/5

Stokes is playing a different game, namely tennis. He takes two steps out and hits a double-handed crosscourt forehand with a horizontal bat for four in front of point. After that trip to Wimbledon he starts playing cricket again with a glorious square drive for four then chisels out the yorker for a single.

Bairstow ends the over with a bottom edge through the keeper for four when he shaped to pull and the delivery from Boult didn't get up. 

What's that curse about living in interesting times? Blogging this England cricket team is murder on the hands. 

Time for a drink. 

Are you not entertained? Stokes charges Southee and plants a drive over long off for six! They're 31 for four! Or were. It was his 100th six in Tests. Southee takes a moment and responds with a jaffa, a cutter that sears past the inside edge as Stokes throws his bat at it. The England captain glances a single and gives Bairstow the strike. Southee serves up the outswinger and Bairstow gives it the kitchen sink, his edge flying over gully for four.

These two redheads are incorrigible. They are always equally as close to the pillory as the podium. 

Bairstow plays watchfully until Boult pitches up into the slot and Bairstow peels off two drives through the offside, both handsome, the second a stunner. 

Root began the over with a thick edge for four trying to cover off stump when the angle was  countered by the movement off the pitch and squared him up. He ended it back in the hutch. Stokes tries to negate the late movement by striding down to Southee and pats a drive through cover for two. 

Root c Blundell b Southee 5 Another absolute ripper. Wide on the crease, Southee angles it in and nibbles it away from Root who was playing the line. FOW 21/4

Sons of Bradford and Sheffield come together to try to dig England out of a massive hole. Boult is sensational but Crawley gave him that one. England's lowest first innings score at Headingley is the 67 from 2019  ... when Stokes performed his miracle. 

Crawley b Boult 6 Crawley, as loose as a goose, thinks it's the one that's going to hold its line but it isn't. It swings in and Crawley, playing a millionaire's drive, is bowled neck and crop. The previous two wickets were earned with virtually unplayable deliveries. Not that one. Crawley Crawleyed himself.  FOW 17/3

More evidence of scrambled minds when Crawley almost barbecues Root with a ridiculous single to Williamson at cover. The Kiwi captain shies and misses with Root two yards short. Root grins contentedly and then gets off the mark by flicking a single off his pads. Crawley uses the same stroke to pinch the strike and submit himself to a Boult interrogation. 

Some people are always poised with their bucket of vitriol for England's top-order failings but I doubt they could honorably uses it to deride Lees and Pope. Boult is mixing up three-quarter balls when he slides his fingers down the left side of the ball to make it move away from the right-hander and into the left-hander, with big, late swing. He messes with batsmen's minds and their furniture. 

Pope b Boult 5 An absolute master at work, swinging it back through the gate having messed with the batsman's mind by moving it both ways.  FOW 14/2

Southee was in Boult's shadow in Nottingham but looks back to his best, making one angle in to Crawley and zip away off the pitch. Crawley is groping for form, trying to find the middle of his bat for comfort and manages to do so at the end of the over to cover the swing. 

Pope gets off the mark with a leg glance for a single off the first ball. The best place to play Boult from is the other end. Crawley tries to tuck a single off his hip but takes a leg-bye instead. Boult's inswinger to the right-hander starts on middle and veers too far on to Pope's pads and he plays a leg-glance that would have impressed Ranji. The ball smoked its way to the boundary. 

Crawley gets away with a streaky four off the leading edge when trying to on drive it. He closed the face too soon but gets away with it. Southee, who swings the ball away, will be happy with that.  Crawley, whose judgment outside off has been shonky, lets a couple go, refusing to let his hands follow them. Long may it continue. 

Boult is at his skiddy best, having Lees on toast. Mitchell dropped him at second slip when he went for a cut that wasn't on. The ball scooted away for four. Boult responded with a jaffa that swung in and nibbled away from the edge late and then castled him with a ripper. As Mark Burcher says, if Lees had hit it he could only have nicked it. As Sir Frederick would have said: 'Too good for thee, lad."

Lees b Boult 4  Unbelievably good opening over from Boult is capped by slipping an inswinger through Lees' defences that swerved in and nipped back through the gate to demolish off stump.  FOW 4/1

Well, having been the subject of valid criticism at Trent Bridge, Jack Leach has repaid his captain's faith in spades with a first-innings five-for, ending with 38.3-8-100-5. Matty Potts deserved better than his one for 34, Broad was terrific, if compensating for Anderson's absence by doubling up the grumpiness and sarcasm, and Overton had his moments.  Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell were magnificent as they have been all series but I think having decided to bat first , NZ must think they are about a hundred short. 

Wagner c Bairstow b Leach 4   Blimey! Jack Leach has first innings five-for and his first 5w return ever in a home Test. He owes it to a brilliant catch by Bairstow at long on, having had to change direction as it swirled. He made the ground, dived to his right and grabbed it. Boult ends with another red inker.  FOW 329/10

Southee c Stokes b Leach 33  Similar to Mitchell's dismissal, he had a big swipe at one that wasn't there for him having backed towards legside a touch, Off came his bottom hand as he swung hard at it and he spooned it high. Stokes takes  a couple of strides to stand under it and take it comfortably.  FOW 329/9

Wagner gets off the mark with one of the sweetest back foot punches you could wish to say. He creamed it through mid-off for four. 

Southee (they crossed) blocks out the final over of Leach''s 38th over which started 46 minutes ago.  Potts is given the chance to blow away the tail from the other end. 

Shafts of sunlight breaking through the clouds. 

Here's the latest episode of the Vaughany & Tuffers CC, fresh off the, er, press. In this week's edition of the Telegraph podast, the three amigos chat with Marcus Trescothick, among other delights. You can listen here or download on iTunes, Spotify and all other good (and bad) podcast providers.

With one ball left of Leach's 38th over he has three for 100. Engalnd will be pleased with their three wickets, less so by the catches put down by Foakes and Bairstow. Not sure that the short stuff was working. Overton looks tired and the pitch is flat. But Stokes deserves great kudos for holding his nerve with Leach and for setting the perfect field to take run machine Mitchell down on the stroke of lunch. 

Mitchell c Stokes b Leach 109 Departs from the penultimate ball of the session. Leach flighted one to tempt him again and he goes for the lofted off drive but loses his grip a bit and spoons it high. Stokes runs to his left and has to tack backwards too to take an excellent catch over his shoulder. FOW 325/8

Overton continues with the chin symphony but is not frightening these twp who work him away for four singles. 

Given this is Leach's seventh over of the morning, the over-rate is a disgrace - 23 in 115 minutes before the start of this one. Just the single and two leg-byes off the over. 

Overton slips out a full toss and Mitchell meets it on the middle of his bat, smashing it over mid-on for four. Both of them are going gung ho now and could do real damage. Overton has pace but the control of a Test novice. Mitchell cuffs a single through midwicket then Southee swivels on the bouncer to pull it for four. He swings and misses at the next short one and Overton tries to gull him with the yorker but Southee, though backing away, has no problem steering it out of the blockhole through point for four. That's the 50 partnership off 44 balls. 

Mitchell brings up his third century in successive Tests in some style, extending his arms to launch a drive back over Leach's head for six. Talk about holding the pose. His expansive followthrough took his arms above his head and he leaves them there to acknowledge the crowd. No New Zealander has made three hundreds in three Tests. 

Overton replaces Broad and has four men out on the legside fence. Southee steps away and uppercuts Overton's first bouncer for four over the keeper and cuts the next one in front of square for four more. He duck-hooks the third for a single to midwicket. Mitchell also tucks into a short one, rolling his wrists to pull one from shoulder height square of midwicket for four more. Costly over. 

Mitchell flicks Leach for a single to bring up his 463rd run of the series, a record for a Kiwi in England. Must be shoo-in for the Almanack next year. Kumar Sangakkara should write the essay. Considerable turn now for Leach from the potholes pounded out by Overton. 

Tim Southee wishes Broad many happy returns by climbing into the short ball and pulling it hard., high and handsome for six into the Western Terrace. He has decides to chuck the bat at everything now, slicing a drive down to third man for two then retreats to leg to have a wild yahoo at another short ball. Mitchell has a word. 

The clouds are very low now and the atmosphere humid and close. Seems a waste to be bowling spin in Leeds on a classic seamer's day. I reckon Stokes would be ideal out there. He maintains that he is fit to bowl but whether that's just spin/ a lie, I don't know.  Southee bats on instinct and that usually involves an urge to attack. Down he comes to club a drive down the ground. Bairstow races over from long on but he can't get there with a dive to catch it. He had been posted halfway back for that stroke but could have done with being on the rope. Had he been there, of course, Southee might not have played that shot. 

After the crowd sang happy birthday to Broad on the day he turns 36, this:

Broad claps sarcastically when the ball finally fails the gauge test. Stokes punches the air. On comes the suitcase of replacement balls. Marais Erasmus picks one and Broad makes it talk, Crawley taking the catch off his laces. Enter Southee to an odd field of only one slip. NZ's No9 ducks the bouncer. 

Bracewell c Crawley b Broad 13  Two card trick. Broad finally gets the ball changed, has a Kevin and Perry reaction when he gets his way, nmips one back into Bracewell and hit him on the back leg then nipped the next one away to catch the edge. This time Crawley does move and snaffles it.  FOW265/7

Giving it a rip works wonders for Leach as one spits out of the footholds and turns square, fizzing past Bracewell's pads.  That's one to ponder. Good take from Foakes. Barcewell sweeps for a single then Mitchell puts his dancing boots back on, comes down and carts a four over mid-on, partially off the toe of the bat. 

Bracewell would not pull Overton or Potts earlier but tucks in when Broad makes one sit up and beg outside off. He doesn't collar it and ends up scuffing it off the bottom edge for two. 

For the fourth time in 70 minutes, England ask for the ball to be changed. And then a fifth time two balls later. Broad throws it into the pitch after gathering in his followthrough and then slings it towards Foakes. If Dr Johnson were quipping today, he would substitute Broad for his Scotsman and a ray of sunshine. 

Leach never prospers against left-handers but his captain has faith in him against Bracewell. Not that he can keep him at that end for more than a ball as he pats a drive down to long on. He looks better against the right-handed Mitchell if guilty of bowling a little short, mindful of Mitchell's love for going downtown. Stokes brings long on up to encourage the lofted drive but Mitchell bites his knuckles, figuratively, and plays out five dots. 

Broad finishes the hour with a maiden to Mitchell, probing down the channel, and on come the drinks.  

The spinner comes over the wicket to Bracewell. The ball is turning, and turning in to the left-hander, who uses the movement to slog sweep with it through deep backward square for four. A bit more flight keeps Bracewell guessing and Leach ends the over with Foakes roaring his approval when one leaps as well as turns into Bracewell's top flap. 

The strange thing about Bairstow's drop was that Crawley at second slip, and the ball did fly between them, didn't flinch an inch. He never moved at all, not to go for the ball, to get out of Jonny's way or take evasive action. Did he see it?

Mitchell defends four and leaves two of Broad's 19th over. Time for Leach. 

Bracewell has a fiddle when Potts slants one across him but fails to get bat on ball. It's another maiden for Potts and leaves him after the fifth over of this spell with 25-11-30-1. Northern lad. Proper grafter. 

After a four-over burst from Overton, Stuart Broad is coming on. It's a bit of a stiff start but gradually cranks up to 82mph. When he pitches up on off and middle, Bracewell spanks a drive down through mid-on for four. 'Andsome.

Drop! Broad shakes his head when he gets one to nip away from Bracewell and he fences it to third slip's right. Bairstow goes one-handed and puts it down. He is furious with himself. So is Broad who pulls his hat on with a big tug. Now the talk is of them being too close to the bat ... as well as to each other. 

Bracewell follows fellow left-hander Nicholls in scratching around to get off the mark. At then end of Potts' 10th maiden he remains on a duck egg after 16 deliveries but he does look more composed than Nicholls, well as Potts is bowling.

Foakes is exonerated by Surrey man, former team-mate and wicketkeeping brother Kumar Sangakkara.  He says that drop shows how committed he is and how athletic he is. Well, quite. But what about his judgment? 

Overton tests Bracewell with a couple of bouncers, tests his knees really as he ducks both. Guess what? Stuart Broad wants the ball changed. After a no-ball, given on height, Overton comes round the wicket to the left-hander and rushes him into a back-foot defensive. After another bouncer, Overton and Stokes make entreaties about changing the ball, Every two deliveries now. Get on with the game. That over took about six minutes. 

Blundell may have been sawn off as so many batsmen were in the past. That looked highly dubious. Anyway, it's the way we were. It did square him up and hit him on the back leg. And regarding Matty Potts, every good boy deserves favour. He has bowled very well yesterday and today. 

Blundell lbw b Potts 55  The batsman shakes his head, knowing he cannot review. I'm sure he would have done, too. It was a big inswinger that seemed to surprise him but looked to these eyes as if it would have missed leg stump. And there was a hint of edge too.  FOW 243/6

Fuller from Overton who, to be fair, has been varying his line. Blundell plays tip and run to cover, giving Mitchell a spoonful of his own medicine. Mitchell is scoreless off the rest of the over but adds four leg-byes when Overton sprays one on to his pads and trickles very fine. 

DRS has gone down again so no reviews permissible while Aleem Dar turns it off and turns it back on again. 

Foakes is not judges as harshly as Bairstow and Buttler for errors in the gloves. But that was a bad one. Dropping catches is forgivable. Knocking them out of a team-mate's hands is less so.

Potts continues, fast and full, and racks up a maiden against Mitchell who seems to have reined himself in after nicking it. 

 

Overton continues with the short-ball strategy and Blundell climbs into one, rolling his wrists and collaring it for four. Nice shot. Bairstow, at leg gully, does get into the game when he makes a fine diving stop when Blundell pulls finer. 

Potts, not Broad, is Overton's opening partner and he continues to be luckless, or more accurately, plagued by bad luck. He angles one into Mitchell and straightens it off a good length to kiss the edge. The ball flew towards first slip for what would have been a routine catch for Joe Root but Foakes dives across and tips on to Root's wrist and goes down through gully. They run two. Foakes has had a good series but that was rash. Either that or Root's too close to his keeper. Either way Root's wrist is sore. 

Jamie Overton is given the honour on day two and repays his captain's faith with a brutal bouncer to Blundell. The keeper-batsman jack-knifes out of the way but not quickly enough and it crashes into his shoulder and loops up towards the keeper. Overton is loosey goosey early today and Blundell fends another rapid one through point for a single, Mitchell flicks one off his toes. As they did at Trent Bridge, England now have a leg gully in for Blundell but he can't get in the game when Overton hits the channel outside off and Blundell opens the face a la Root to glide four down through third man. That;' his half-century.

Mitchell and Blundell, Blundell and Mitchell. Will no one rid England of these turbulent bats? For the third Test in succession Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell  have put on a century partnership and now Mitchell stands on the threshold of a third century in successive Tests. How England must be kicking themselves for not reviewing Matt Potts' leg-before appeal when it was turned down. Ben Foakes has done well all series but he made that call and understandably, given the bowler is a novice, Ben Stokes deferred to him as he should, having given him the responsibility.

But that should not take the gloss off another good bowling effort from Stuart Broad, the luckless Potts and the lively Jamie Overton. Better still was the improvement shown by Jack Leach. He must have been working with Jeetan Patel over the past 10 days since Trent Bridge because he managed to bowl far fewer drag downs and there were signs of drift which was not part of his armoury before. It did for Will Young. Equally significantly perhaps, the Headingley crowd loves him because of 2019 and his gallantry and cheers his every touch. If the supporters embrace you, confidence soon follows.

Rain is forecast for after tea but it still looks a belter of a pitch when the sun is out. England will hope to keep New Zealand to about 350, pile up the runs (though they will face Neil Wagner for the first time in the series, a bowler they have found very tricky in the past) and hope Leach can rip through them. He may have to. Broad has done a lot of work this series, Stokes hasn't bowled yet and may not all game, Potts will run all day but both he and Overton are raw at this level. 

Anyway, let's get it on.