England move closer to win on wet day at Lord's

· BBC Sport

By
Stephan Shemilt
Cricket Correspondent at Lord's
Published

First Rothesay Test, Lord's (day three of five)

England 140 (Brook 56; Jamieson 5-62) & 226 (Gay 57; N Smith 6-70)

New Zealand 113 (Jamieson 38*; Robinson 5-39,) & 55-5 (Atkinson 2-16, Robinson 2-18)

New Zealand require 199 runs to win, England need five wickets

Scorecard

England made use of the limited time available to take strides towards a much-needed victory over New Zealand in the first Test at Lord's.

Fewer than 10 overs were possible because of persistent rain on day three, but Ollie Robinson was still able to claim the important wickets of Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell.

In moving to seven wickets in the match on his comeback to Test cricket, Robinson left New Zealand 55-5, 199 runs adrift of an increasingly fanciful target of 254.

Dry weather is forecast for Sunday, when England will surely complete a win to begin their post-Ashes rebuild on a positive note.

Robinson dodges rain to move England closer

Given the grim nature of the weather forecast, even the small amount of play that was possible on Saturday could be viewed as a bonus.

Perhaps more could have taken place. Lord's appeared dry and ready during an early lunch taken at 12:20 BST before play eventually began at 13:00.

The players yo-yoed on and off the field over the course of the next 70 minutes, with two delays before the weather had the final say at 14:10.

Just as in his 5-39 in the first innings, Robinson revelled in the conditions in his first Test for more two years. The damp conditions under the floodlights exacerbated the difficulty of batting on a surface that has been uneven for most of this match.

After New Zealand resumed on 37-3, Ravindra and Mitchell were the most likely of their remaining batters to dig in and made England's task harder. Robinson dealt with them both.

Left-hander Ravindra was undone by a beauty. Robinson, from round the wicket, angled the ball in, then nipped it away off the surface and up the Lord's slope. It defeated Ravindra's defensive stroke and kissed the off stump. Almost unplayable.

Ravindra, the heir to Kane Williamson as New Zealand's leading batter, has had an awful Test. Batting returns of nought and eight are added to two bad drops, which have been important in the context of a low-scoring match.

Knowing conditions were in their favour and time on the field was short, England crowded the bat with as many as seven close catchers.

And the Mitchell wicket went against a theory held by this England regime that a certain style of cricket cannot be successful in the Test arena.

"This 75mph, keeper up, dobbing it on a length - we know that doesn't work in Test cricket, wherever you are," was once the view of England director of cricket Rob Key.

One ball after England keeper Jamie Smith came up to the stumps, Robinson struck Mitchell on the pad. The review could not save Mitchell, who was frustrated to see the ball was shaving leg stump - another umpire's call that has gone against the Black Caps in this match.

Two overs later, the weather made a terminal intervention, with the day abandoned at 17:30.

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