Key events
30th over: England 129-5 (Pope 24, Stokes 20) Stokes almost drags Henry onto the stumps, then takes one on the thigh after charging down the pitch. Henry saw him coming and rammed the ball in. A fine over ends with a shortish delivery that Stokes fences short of the slips and then through for a single.
29th over: England 128-5 (Pope 24, Stokes 19) Stokes plays a shot of absurd quality, lazily flicking a big Southee inswinger between midwicket and mid-on for four. Heâs only on 19, and Iâll look a right plonker if he slogs one up in the air, but Stokesâ strokeplay hasnât looked this clean in quite a while.
28th over: England 122-5 (Pope 23, Stokes 14) Henry replaces OâRourke after a bat-jarring spell of 8-2-33-3. Stokes gives him the charge but doesnât beat mid-off; then Pope flicks in the air but well short of mid-on.
Thereâs still loads for England to do but so far this has been a good, unruffled partnership.
Meanwhile, in Brisbane, Steve Smith is scrapping and Travis Head is counter-attacking towards the end of a compelling morning session. You can follow that with Angus Fontaine.
27th over: England 120-5 (Pope 22, Stokes 13) Thereâs been nothing frenetic about Popeâs start today. The only F-word being used is âfourâ, and he gets his fifth with a beautiful, relaxed straight drive off Southee. He has 22 from 37 balls, Stokes 13 from 22.
26th over: England 116-5 (Pope 18, Stokes 13) OâRourke keeps going, into his eighth over, but maybe itâs one too many. Stokes drives and clips successive boundaries, two high-class strokes that take him into double figures.
Mind you, OâRourkeâs issue was line rather than pace, which is still up around 90mph. Later in the over Stokes pulls his hand off the bta in surprise when a length ball rears at him. Deliveries like that must make OâRourke so unpleasant to face. And the rest. He looks so good.
25th over: England 108-5 (Pope 18, Stokes 5) Pope chased a really wide outswinger from Southee and clumps it to the cover boundary. He continues to look really good at No6 and, though Iâm fairly sure heâll return to No3 at the start of next summer, he has made it a bit more complicated with the quality of his batting and keeping in this series.
24th over: England 104-5 (Pope 14, Stokes 5) Thanks Tanya, hello everyone. How good is this? Will OâRourke came into this match averaging around 50 in the series, even though he has bowled marvellously at times. He got his just deserts when he flattened Englandâs middle order in the space of eight balls, dismissing Bethell, Brook and Root.
Itâs been a brutish spell of bowling from OâRourke, whose rare combination of pace, height and awkward angles that evokes Steve Harmison in his 2004 pomp. Even now, in the seventh over of his spell, he is hitting 90mph. Stokes, who was dealt with emphatically by OâRourke in the second Test, gets solidly in line and then fences an errant delivery down the leg side for four.
23rd over: England 100-5 (Pope 14, Stokes 1) Pope almost falls for the tempting sweetie from Southee, fat and juicy, but just misses getting bat on ball. And after that thrilling post-lunch hour, I am handing over to Rob Smyth who will guide you through the night. Thanks for all your messages â bye!
22nd over: England 99-5 (Pope 14, Stokes 0) Pope uppercuts, a vicious waft that flies up and just short of six. A fascinating over follows â a hot potato of a bouncer that leaves Pope wide-mouthed in almost-admiration. Then a riposte of an on drive before Pope is spatchcocked as leans back to cut and the ball falls fingernails short of Will Young at backward point.
âMorning Tanya.â Hello Brian Withington!
âI deliberately started my review of the dayâs events from the preamble without checking any scores, and had fairly safely reached 70 odd for 2 when I pressed refresh at the beginning of that OâRourke over …
âNot that we believe in jinxing in these parts, but I shanât do that again in a hurry.â
21st over: England 90-5 (Pope 5, Stokes 0) Southee, arms like pistons, races in. He drifts onto the pads and Pope with relief sends him to the square leg boundary.
20th over: England 86-5 (Pope 1, Stokes 0) Four slips knit. OâRourke to Stokes. A maiden.
âHi Tanya,â Hello again Ian.
âI feel âsniffsâ was a little harsh, though as itâs the middle of December and I live in north Manchester itâs technically accurate, I do have a cold.
Basically I was riffing on âcommentators curseâ, you actually got what you asked for, but in the minimal possible way. Isnât cricket wonderful?â
I withdraw my sniffs â would a muses do? Sending a hello from the other side of town. And yes to wonderful. Also throwing in â as the last hour has shown â a sometimes totally unexpected.
19th over: England 86-5 (Pope 1, Stokes 0) OâRourke got nine here against South Africa on Test debut. England get a brief breather from a Southee over which brings four legbyes.
WICKET! Root c Young b O’Rourke 32 (England 82-5)
OâRourke! He swings one in which fires towards Rootâs guts, he cuts but is suddenly cramped and can only give an easy catch to Young. Englandâs wall is crumbling.
18th over: England 82-5 (Pope 1) OâRourke on a hat-trickâ¦Pope darts at a legside ball and thereâs a huge appeal but no go. Ooof, Pope sets off for a crazy single, which would have left Root scrambling if it had hit. And now OâRourke gets the big one.
17th over: England 81-4 (Root 32, Pope 0) Root nonchalantly straight drives four off Henry as if all is calm, all is bright
16th over: England 77-4 (Root 28, Pope 0) They were just discussing on comms how OâRourke was finding his line easier against the left handed Bethell when he succumbed. And the ball to Brook was perfection, a 93mph inswinger to a brand new batter.
WICKET! Brook b O’Rourke 0 (England 77-4)
First ball! Oâ Rourke angles the ball in and Brook slices an edge onto his stumps. Looks back in total surprise to see bails on the grass.
WICKET! Bethell c Phillips b O’Rourke 12 (England 77-3)
Like a jumping jackrabbit! Bethell finally runs out of discipline, drives on the up and is snaffled by gully in mid-air.
15th over: England 73-2 (Bethell 8, Root 28) A maiden from the immaculate Henry to Root. Meanwhile in Brisbane, Australia have lost a couple of wickets and Labuschagne and Smith are rebuilding. Follow with Angus Fontaine here:
14th over: England 73-2 (Bethell 8, Root 28) O’Rourkeâs line a little wayward to Root, who picks up a couple of early fours with a pull and a clip off the legs. He finishes with four wild byes to make it 13 from the over.
13th over: England 64-2 (Bethell 8, Root 20) Henry is on the prowl. Working on Root, who wonât let himself be subdued and steals a single.
12th over: England 59-2 (Bethell 8, Root 19) OâRourke replaces Southee, and engineers something nasty, brutish and short which flies towards Bethellâs head, hitting high glove, forcing him to jerk his body backwards. A fierce maiden.
Afternoon session
11th over: England 59-2 (Bethell 8, Root 19) Henry continues after lunch. On comms, Katey Martin says that he has started bowling a lot fuller over the last couple of years. and indeed he largely does here. Beats Root with a shorter ball, then Root nudges a marginally straighter one down to the rope. Henry clasps his chin and mutters through suncreamed lips.
Thereâs a lovely documentary on Rachin Ravindara showing during the lunch break. Back at Seddon Park, the grassy banks mill with activity. Iâm pushing through with salted nuts
Hello Philip Morton in Berkeley!
âThis refugee from England thanks you and the Guardian for the OBO. I particularly appreciate the description of culinary adventures.
âItâs cold and wet here in California, but still daylight. If you can find someone who knows how to write, lives here, and can get a video feed you and Rob might actually not have to burn the midnight oil.â
A great idea in theory, but the downside is we wouldnât get paidâ¦
And here come the players.
âIâd hazard a guess that the whole of your street is glad the Barmy Army trumpeter isnât with you on your sofa, but you and the Guardian team are all virtuosos on the obo(e). “
Very good Andrew Benton.
âWhy do England persist with Crawley? Actually, Iâd love to see Stokes opening the batting, he could really lead from the front there, set out his stall at the beginning of an innings, an in-you-face challenge to the bowlers.â
I think this team can afford the on-off expense of Crawley, thatâs the ginger.
Ish Sodhi is walking and talking around Seddon Park. âYou saw the ball still nipping around a bit, I think it was a leg break against Ben Duckett, and a fantastic catch by Henry, 33 years young. Crawley can take the game away from you so good to get him early. England already scoring 5 runs an over, I think New Zealand bowling those aggressive lengths gives them a chance of quick scoring.â
Time for me to grab a late-night snack and a coffee. Back soon.
Lunch – England 54-2 trail by 293 runs
10th over: England 54-2 (Bethell 7, Root 15) Bethell picks up four through the covers, handsomely, but is tied down by Southee for the remainder of the over and thatâs lunch!
9th over: England 49-2 (Bethell 2, Root 15) Henry with his last over before lunch â time for just one more from Southee I think. That Crawley dismissal continues Henryâs freakish hold over him in this series:
8th over: England 45-2 (Bethell 2, Root 11) Root gently accumulates as little clouds like bites of candy floss watch in the cornflower sky.
An email drops entitled Crawley and 21. âBlaming you for that Tanya.â sniffs Ian
âPoor sod did what you asked and look where it lead.
Ah well, bit more wine and then bedtime here.â
He looked so good tooâ¦
7th over: England 41-2 (Bethell 1, Root 8) Henry passes shiny red ball past Rootâs bat, with seam posing for applause. Next ball, Root turns one behind into the grassy expanse for four. A second four clipped through square leg. Easy does it.