Joe Root had to haul his England captain’s blazer out of four years of cold storage this week, but barring a fifth day miracle it will be placed back in his garage on the back of a record 27th defeat.

With Ben Stokes, who yesterday signalled a return to form with the bat with an innings of 95 in the County Championship, expected to take back control now that a probe into his post-Lord’s conduct has concluded, Root’s tenure is set to be as fleeting as England’s resistance at the Oval.

The 35-year-old did his best to delay the inevitable with an innings that started in celebratory mood when, to roars of R-O-O-T from a Saturday full house, he became, with a couple of singles, only the second player in history behind Sachin Tendulkar to reach 14,000 Test runs.

But this was always a case of damage limitation rather than personal glory for Root, who resumes on Sunday unbeaten on 75 with England five wickets down and a gargantuan 281 runs shy of a notional victory target.

Only when he was playing second fiddle to Harry Brook in a rollicking stand of 97 for the fourth wicket - rekindling memories of last year’s efforts against India when another match without Stokes ended in a dramatically narrow defeat - was the chasm in quality between this greenest of England sides and New Zealand forgotten.

A score of 40 for three when his Yorkshire colleague Brook came to the crease would have brought back all too familiar memories for Root of the most challenging days of his five-year tenure.

Few pack a counter-punch as powerful as Brook, however, and alternating charges down the pitch with back foot strikes deep un his crease, he reached to a 33-ball 50. In one heady spell, 62 runs were plundered in seven overs.

With Root resolute in defence and guiding and flicking into gaps at the other end, it looked a different game to the start of the innings when Kyle Jamieson dispatched Emilio Gay and Jacob Bethell in the same over and a restrained Ben Duckett toe-ended a pull to midwicket.

But the reintroduction of Matt Henry provided a stark warning of the fluctuating fortunes Test cricket offers. Exploiting the lateral movement on offer from a pitch on which the grass has become increasingly straw-coloured, New Zealand’s veteran seamer believed he’d scalped both Yorkshiremen with LBW dismissals - only for inside edges to reprieve Root on 44 and Brook on 53.

Those successful reviews might have embarrassed South African umpire Adrian Holdstock, but they also warned of the threat of Henry in these conditions.

Having taken five wickets in helping his side open up a three-figure advantage on first innings, Henry opened his account for the second when an edge from Brook 75 minutes after tea found its way to first slip from a nick off wicketkeeper Tom Blundell, standing up to the stumps.

When James Rew’s error-strewn debut, including multiple dropped catches, featured a second dismissal within touching distance of the close of play, New Zealand were halfway towards setting up a series decider at Trent Bridge next Thursday.

Beginning 352 runs to the good, in the knowledge that the highest successful Test chase on this ground is 263, they added 110 runs for their final seven wickets, dangling England a world-record shaped carrot of 463 or five sessions to stave off defeat.

The equation would have been different but for a missed opportunity from the first ball of the fourth morning when Jofra Archer found the edge of Daryl Mitchell’s bat, only for a diving Brook, England’s sole slip, to allow the ball to burst through his hand on its way to the boundary.

Undeterred, Archer bowled with considerable menace and impressive stamina for a player who until this week had been on a Twenty20 diet in 2026, inducing thick nicks from Henry Nicholls and Glenn Phillips, New Zealand’s two centurions in this match, across eight overs that cost 23 runs.

The 31-year-old was not meant to play this match, but when Stokes and Gus Atkinson were rendered un-selectable while under investigation by the Cricket Regulator for the early hours incident that followed the series opening win over New Zealand at Lord’s, he stepped up to the plate, finishing with figures of five for 123 from 36 overs.

Whether England ask him to feature in Nottingham may be influenced by the availability of others.

England are keen to name their third Test squad on Monday, but are shrouded in uncertainty. Stokes and Atkinson are expected to return, but Ollie Robinson, man of the match in the first Test, will undergo another fitness check on his knee niggle while the length of Jamie Smith’s paternity leave is yet to be established.