ENG vs NZ: Latham, Conway's hundreds put New Zealand in driver's seat on Day 1 in Nottingham

New Zealand had an anticlimactic ending to Day 1 of the third Test against England as late wickets in the final session took some sheen off a brilliant day with the bat for the visitors at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. The Kiwis were on 361/4 at stumps with Will O’Rourke (0*) being the only not out batter at the crease.

Captain Tom Latham (151) and Devon Conway (157) had put their team in a commanding position with a massive 317-run opening stand, before two late wickets on successive deliveries at stumps helped England bring back smiles on their faces.

The day began with captain Tom Latham winning the toss and opting to bat first as New Zealand made a host of changes to their playing XI as Matt Henry and Glenn Phillips missed out due to niggles, while Kyle Jamieson was rested for workload management. As a result, New Zealand brought in Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears and Blair Tickner into the team.

Having won an important toss, both Conway and Latham had a measured start to their innings before the latter accelerated to bring up the 50-run opening stand off just 65 deliveries. Seeing his new-ball bowlers unable to break the opening stand, England captain Ben Stokes brought himself on, but to no avail as Latham brought up his first half-century of the series off 65 deliveries.

The openers brought up their century stand by the 26^th over and went into lunch on 108/0 after 28 overs. The same story continued in the second session, with Devon Conway bringing up his half-century as the opening partnership extended to 150. 

DRS blunder costs England

England missed out on a golden chance to remove Devon Conway on 71 after Shoaib Bashir trapped him in front of the stumps in the 40^th over. However, having already wasted a review against Latham earlier in the session, England decided not to send it for DRS, with wicketkeeper Jamie Smith also suggesting that Conway got an inside edge on the pad. 

The replays painted a completely different picture, revealing that it was pad first and Conway would’ve been on his way back to the pavilion, had England opted for a review.

From there on, every run from Conway’s bat rubbed salt into the wounds of England, who brought up his eighth Test hundred in the third session, while Latham reached the three-figure mark in the second session itself for the 17^th time in the longest format.

Another chance goes begging

Upon completing their respective centuries, the duo pressed on the accelerator, scoring over four runs an over to pile on the misery on England. There was another reprieve for Latham on 129, as Jamie Smith dropped a sitter behind the stumps after Gus Atkinson surprised the Kiwi skipper with a bouncer.

Latham made full use of it, bringing up his 150 and also completing a 300-run opening stand with Conway, setting the record for the highest ever partnership for New Zealand against England for any wicket. It was also the second 300-plus opening stand between the duo after they earlier added 323 against West Indies in December, 2025.

With nothing going England's way, the golden arm of Ben Stokes (1/57) came to his team's rescue once again as he made Tom Latham (151) edge one to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith late in the day, ending the opening partnership on 317 off 433 balls. Six balls later, Joe Root (1/7) got Conway (157) holed out to mid-on as New Zealand lost their second wicket on 319.

Ravindra's brain-fade allows England's comeback

After a record-opening stand, Rachin Ravindra and Henry Nicholls got together at the crease and came out playing their shots, adding 42 runs for the third wicket off 65 deliveries. It seemed as if New Zealand would finish the day without any more casualties before Shoaib Bashir stopped a certain boundary form Henry Nicholls towards fine leg in the 84th over and kept it down to three runs, which brought Ravindra back on strike.

The fielding effort helped England finish the day on a high as Ravindra (7) had a brain fade moment on the very next delivery and tried to pull Gus Atkinson (1/62), only to sky the ball behind the stumps, where Smith completed an easy catch.

On the first ball of the very next over, Jofra Archer (1/53) bowled a peach of a delivery to find Nicholls’ (36) edge, which again carried safely into Smith’s gloves. As a result, England managed to end the day on a positive note, having got a chance to make further inroads into New Zealand’s batting lineup with the new ball on Day 2.