Eyebrows were raised before this third Test when Ben Stokes declared England were in the entertainment business, not the sporting business. Some 48 hours later, through another swashbuckling century from Jonny Bairstow and debutant Jamie Overton’s unbeaten 89, it became apparent the new captain was deadly serious.
England had crumbled to 55 for six inside 12 overs after lunch on day two, having earlier seen New Zealand post 329 through another commanding 109 from Daryl Mitchell. For all the recent talk of playing “sexy cricket” from their head coach, Brendon McCullum, the hosts appeared to be suffering from, ahem, performance issues as Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Neil Wagner got the cherry-ripe Dukes ball to talk dirty.
