England V New Zealand: Second Men’s Test, Day Three – Live

Updates from the third day’s play at the Oval
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Just read this beautiful piece from my pal Jon Hotten who watched Rew and Cox make their way for the first time in Test cricket from a lofty perch (lah-di-dah) here at the Oval:

Yesterday at the Oval, James Rew walked out to bat as England’s number six. The score was 170-4, and, disconcertingly, he had to pass Joe Root, who was stomping off having reviewed a marginal leg before decision and not much enjoyed the result. Has there ever, in the history of the game, been such a disparity between outgoing batter and the incoming one? Root had just fallen to the 24,327th delivery he received in Test cricket. Rew, as if he needed reminding, was yet to face a single ball. What would he give, at that moment, for just one of Root’s 13,998 runs?

Tom Blundell remained up to the stumps. Matt Henry switched to around the wicket. It must have been an out-of-body experience for James Rew, that first delivery. No matter how you prepare, how long you have visualised the moment, it can’t have been like this, not 170-4 on a muggy afternoon at the Oval, the captain out, the early serenity of the afternoon’s play broken open, this lifetime’s dream now a visceral reality.”

Thorpe’s in” or “Thorpe’s still in” were words that always provided some solace in the back seats. Thorpe was a headbanded and hard-bitten nugget of hope. A zinc-lipped beacon. A “Kookaburra Bubble” stickered mast on which to cling as England found themselves taking on wave after wave of all-time great bowlers. Be it night or day, seam or spin, lost cause, dead rubber or soul stirring victory – Graham Thorpe was batting.

Against a rolling backdrop of Cornhill Insurance, npower girls, spindly gasometers, snow-capped mountains and Tetley Beer hoardings – Graham Thorpe was batting. Against Australia, West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park and the aliens of Independence Day – Graham Thorpe was batting. During Labour landslides, Knebworth singalongs, through BSE, foot and mouth and Millennium Bugs. Somehow, Graham Thorpe was batting the entirety of the decade.”