Overview
- England were bowled out for 140 on Thursday with Harry Brook top-scoring at 56 as New Zealand's Kyle Jamieson took 5-62 to swing the game in the visitors' favour.
- Recalled seamer Ollie Robinson ripped through New Zealand's top order with three wickets in his first over on Thursday and finished with a match-best 5-39 on Friday to complete the tourists' first-innings collapse to 113.
- England turned a 27-run first-innings lead into a target of 254 after a second-innings 226 that featured debutant Emilio Gay's composed fifty and a chaotic middle-order collapse before a lower-order recovery.
- New Zealand were 36-3 at stumps chasing 254, leaving England the clear advantage late on Friday as the seam-friendly pitch and repeated rain or bad-light interruptions kept a quick result likely.
- The match is a real-time test of England's selection changes since the Ashes because Robinson's recall and Gay's debut have immediate consequences for squad plans and selectors' assessments.