Article #55607

• Second Test, day two: New Zealand 391; England 222-6

• Debutant Jordan Cox left to shepherd hosts’ tail

For all that the job wore him down over a five-year period, Joe Root was only ever going to say yes when England found themselves needing a sensible stand-in captain in the wake of Ben Stokes and that late night after Lord’s.

But there will surely have been a few doubts in Root’s mind when the call from Rob Key came in; flashbacks to the final throes of his reign, when even a personally celestial last 12 months with the bat could not prevent the team’s overall slide.