Blundell, Phillips front New Zealand's recovery after England's early strikes

An absorbing opening day of the second Test at The Oval saw New Zealand push their way to a competitive 291 for 7 at Stumps. Led by a half-century from Tom Blundell, an unbeaten 49 from Glenn Phillips and other middle order contributions, New Zealand marched their way to safety after being reduced to 79/3 shortly after Lunch.

Having won the toss on a rainy London morning, stand-in England captain Joe Root elected to bowl first. The decision paid off almost immediately with Devon Conway departing cheaply in the sixth over. Following the early breakthrough, New Zealand stabilised through a gritty 44-run stand between skipper Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls.

The pair added 44 runs for the second wicket before Jofra Archer produced a breakthrough to send Latham back. Josh Tongue cleaned up Nicholls for 24. Rachin Ravindra kept finding the fence to help New Zealand move forward but departed just as New Zealand went past the 100 mark.

Four down, Blundell joined Daryl Mitchell, who looked fidgety early in his innings. However, the pair combined to stabilise the innings once more with an 81-run partnership for the fifth wicket to take their side to Tea without further damage at 166/4.

The duo resumed in the final session before Sonny Baker broke the stand, getting Mitchell to pull straight to midwicket to fall six short of a fifty.

Phillips launched a brief counterattack, getting off the mark with a boundary before taking Baker for three more in his following two overs. Together with Blundell, he added 75 runs to make it another valuable middle-order partnership, taking his team past the 250 mark.

England tossed the ball to part-timer Jacob Bethell and the move paid off immediately. He got half-centurion Blundell to miscue to midwicket where Joe Root completed the catch on second attempt. Bethell struck again in quick succession when he sent back Nathan Smith for four.

Phillips, who started aggressively, did slow down – even going through a 21-dot period as he survived a hostile short ball burst from Archer. His efforts ensured New Zealand reached a firm total by the end of Day 1.

Brief scores: New Zealand 291/7 (Tom Blundell 51, Glenn Phillips 49*, Daryl Mitchell 44; Jacob Bethell 2-8, Sonny Baker 2-63) vs England