Any remaining England optimism foundered on day three as New Zealand took advantage of wicketkeeping errors from debutant James Rew. The 22-year-old Somerset wicketkeeper had a difficult week, conceding 22 byes in the first innings, getting bounced out while batting, and dropping a crucial catch offered by Rachin Ravindra.
New Zealand were 48 for two at the time, 148 ahead, and Josh Tongue was on a tear from the Pavilion End. Tongue served Ravindra two deliveries back of a length, then pitched one up full and wider to tempt him into a drive. Ravindra bit and the ball flew through off his outside edge low to Rew's right side. He dived, stretched, the crowd roared, the ball thumped into his glove, and fell out on to the ground.
Not all of this was Rew's fault. The extras, for instance, were largely because England insisted on bowling so short that often as not the ball was flying well over his head, but you could feel the confidence seeping out of him as the match went on. Later in the innings he leapt for another edge when Jofra Archer caught Henry Nicholls on the glove with a short ball that flew high to Rew's right. He got close enough to it to give everyone the impression that he ought to have caught it. The fielders visibly sagged as it flew through to the boundary. Archer shot Rew a filthy look and a few words to go with it.
It didn't help Rew any that Tom Blundell did such a good job for New Zealand. It was Blundell who first came up with the tactic of stymying England's attacking batting by standing up to the fast bowlers, during the Wellington Test in 2023, and he did it brilliantly again here. His looming presence was enough to throw off Joe Root and Brook, and his catch off Archer was one of the best little bits of wicketkeeping you'll see.
England briefly tried to do the same thing by sending Rew up to the stumps to keep to Matt Fisher. The ball pitched, flicked off the ends of his fingers and shot away through his spread legs for four byes. Standing up to keep wicket to a man bowling 80mph is a hell of a difficult skill, but it is also, as any old salt will tell you, the measure of whether or not you're really up to the job.
Rew is a hell of a batter for Somerset, the youngest man to score 10 first-class centuries in this country since Denis Compton in 1939. But England have Jamie Smith waiting to come back at Trent Bridge after his week of paternity leave, and another keeper, Jordan Cox, is batting at No 7 in this match. Rew could do with another of those hundreds in the fourth innings to fix the first impression he has made in Test cricket so far this week.
