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.