48th over: New Zealand 146-3 (Ravindra 75, Mitchell 37) Stokes into his seventh over of this spell, he will not want to give the ball to someone else without a wicket to show for his efforts but he might well have to. Just a single to Ravindra clipped into the leg side and that’s the first hour done. It belongs to New Zealand although they have only added 26 runs so haven’t damaged England too much.

47th over: New Zealand 145-3 (Ravindra 74, Mitchell 37) A loud groan rattles round Trent Bridge as Mitchell edges a length ball from Tongue through a vacant second slip. In the early days of his captaincy tenure Stokes would have had a man in there, definitely. In this essay I will…

46th over: New Zealand 141-3 (Ravindra 74, Mitchell 33) Stokes is full, zeroing in on the stumps and front pad but Mitchell is up to the task. He clips off his hip for a single and Ravindra blocks out the rest. Archer is going to have a rest, here comes Josh Tongue.

45th over: New Zealand 140-3 (Ravindra 74, Mitchell 32) Shot! Another satisfying sonic boom off the blade of Ravindra as he middles a whip off his pads for four off a disgruntled Archer. England are desperate for a wicket but it ain’t happening for them out there at the moment.

44th over: New Zealand 134-3 (Ravindra 69, Mitchell 31) Smith remains up to the stumps to Stokes, the pitch is now starting to go up and down and the keeper ends up wearing one on the helmet to a ball that spits off a length like an angry camel. A single to Ravindra through midwicket. This pair have done really well to not give England a sniff so far this morning and they’ve eked the lead up to 218 runs, a fourth innings run chase looks to be getting more challenging with every passing minute.

43rd over: New Zealand 133-3 (Ravindra 68, Mitchell 31) Another maiden from Archer as the the sun begins to peep out at Trent Bridge.

42nd over: New Zealand 133-3 (Ravindra 68, Mitchell 31) Shot! Ravindra slaps a short ball from Stokes to the boundary with a flourish. His bat sounds incredible.

“The heat is on McCullum and Key and I understand why” writes an empathetic Steve Hudson.

“Mistakes have been made, especially in the last 12 months. And coaches do have a shelf life and maybe Baz has reached the end of his. I do think that people forget very quickly how dreadful England looked in the few years running up to his appointment, and how brilliant, how exhilarating were the performances once he took over. For two years they were just about the most entertaining and successful England team I’ve ever seen. Please let’s remember the good times when we wish him away.”

41st over: New Zealand 127-3 (Ravindra 63, Mitchell 30) Archer is probing but there’s no breakthrough for England in the first half hour of play, Mitchell sees out a maiden.

John Starbuck twists the knife…

“Going by your Preamble, it appears that The Guardian doesn’t impose a curfew on OBO-writers’ drinking… yet.”

40th over: New Zealand 127-3 (Ravindra 63, Mitchell 30) Jamie Smith calls for the helmet and comes up to the stumps to Stokes. Ouch! Stokes gets one to lift sharply and it prangs Mitchell on the elbow. That’s gonna hurt. The magic spray is run out and there’s a brief delay. Stokes is bowling at 86mph so Smith is going to need his wits about him. Mitchell takes a quick single into the leg side, good batting.

39th over: New Zealand 125-3 (Ravindra 62, Mitchell 29) Archer from the Stuart Broad End, he’s up to the mid to high eighties on the speed gun and gets a nasty ball to lift and smash Mitchell on the hand. The batter wrings it out and briefly resembles Ali G as he does so. Mitchell drops into the leg side and gets off strike. Ravindra clips off his hip to make it two singles off the over.

How’s everyone doing out there? England need wickets…

38th over: New Zealand 123-3 (Ravindra 61, Mitchell 28) Stokes is over the wicket to Ravindra, Trent Bridge shrouded in cloud and it is mercifully cooler than the last few days. A decent morning for bowling you’d think. Ravindra is watchful and Stokes peels off an accurate maiden.

Daryl Accone comes out playing his Sunday morning shots:

“Andy Bull’s piece asks whether the England and Wales Cricket Board can afford to fire McCullum given the compensation in his contract of £1-million or thereabouts. More pertinent is whether the board can afford not to sack him. Never in the field of Test cricket have so many owed so much pain to so few; indeed, to one person. Neither Puff the Magic Dragon nor Harry Potter, Baz rather should go down in the annals of coaching as a poor simulacrum of Ted Lasso.”

37th over: New Zealand 123-3 (Ravindra 61, Mitchell 28) Archer pins Daryl Mitchell on the crease and England go up en masse… Given out! Mitchell consults Ravindra and then calls for the review. It hits him above the knee roll and is GOING OVER the top by an inch. Decision overturned on DRS and Daryl Mitchell does not his his joy/relief. Have we ever seen a player celebrate a DRS call in such a way? Archer beats him outside off stump to complete a good first over. England thought they had the early wicket but not yet, not yet.

36th over: New Zealand 122-3 (Ravindra 60, Mitchell 28) Stokes beats Daryl Mitchell with a full ball outside off stump that jags away late. Ooosht! That kept low! A ball of similar length then squirts a few inches off the ground after pitching, we might well see some more misbehaviour from this wicket today. Mitchell collects two runs through the covers and that’s the first over. Here comes Jofra Archer.

Ben Stokes is going to start with the ball for England, cometh the BIG FIRST HOUR…

The players head out to the middle the the strains of Jerusalem. No hangovers out there… you’d hope (!) A fair few bleary eyed folk shuffling around the ground though, which made me feel a lot better about myself.

Andy Bull laments England’s current situation:

Simon Burnton dipped his quill on Kiwi super sub Zak Foulkes:

We’ve got about five minutes until the start of play, just enough time to catch up on yesterday’s action. It was New Zealand’s day, that’s for sure:

Rachin Ravindra looked in ominously good form yesterday, particularly at the start of his innings where he hit some pristine strokes to wrestle any momentum back from England.