Blundell, Phillips front New Zealand's recovery after England's early strikes

An absorbing opening day of the second Test at The Oval saw New Zealand push their way to a competitive 291 for 7 at Stumps, overcoming a revamped English bowling attack that tested them thoroughly. Led by a half-century from Tom Blundell, an unbeaten 49 from Glenn Phillips and other middle order contributions, New Zealand marched their way to safety after being reduced to 79/3 shortly after Lunch.

Having won the toss on a rainy London morning, stand-in England captain Joe Root elected to bowl first when things got underway with a slight delay. The idea was to exploit any early moisture in the pitch, and the decision paid off almost immediately with Devon Conway departing cheaply in the sixth over. The batting lineup was sans recently-retired Kane Williamson, and following the early breakthrough, New Zealand stabilised their innings through a gritty 44-run stand between skipper Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls.

The pair added 44 runs for the second wicket, before Jofra Archer produced a breakthrough courtesy a sharp catch from Jacob Bethell at gully to send Latham back to the hut. Rachin Ravindra came out with positive intent, seeing New Zealand to Lunch safely but on the other side, Josh Tongue cleaned up Nicholls for 24. Ravindra kept finding the fence to help New Zealand move forward but Bethell took another fantastic catch at gully to send him back just as New Zealand went past the 100 mark.

Four down, Blundell joined Daryl Mitchell in the middle, who looked a fidgety early in his innings. However, he was able to see off that scratchiness as the pair combined to stabilise the innings once more with an 81-run partnership for the fifth wicket. The pair showed tremendous resolve to stand up to the English challenge, after losing two wickets in quick succession post Lunch, to take their side to Tea without further damage at 166/4.

The duo resumed play in the final session finding two boundaries each in the early overs before Sonny Baker broke the stubborn stand. He took Mitchell by surprise with a short ball that the batter couldn't quite middle and ended up pulling it straight to midwicket to fall six short of a fifty.

Phillips launched a brief counterattack, getting off the mark with a boundary before taking Baker for three of those in his following two overs. Together with Blundell, he added 75 runs to make it yet another valuable middle-order partnership that formed the basis of New Zealand's revival. Phillips did the bulk of scoring in that sixth-wicket stand, taking his team past the 250 mark.

England tossed the ball to part-timer Jacob Bethell and the move paid off immediately. The spinner got half-centurion Blundell to miscue his slog to midwicket, where Joe Root completed the catch on second attempt. Bethell struck for the second time in quick succession when he sent back Nathan Smith, who chipped in with just four runs.

Phillips, who started aggressively, did slow down - even going through a 21-dot period in between as he survived a hostile short ball burst from Archer. His efforts ensured New Zealand reached a firm total by the end of Day 1, with England sending down just 77 overs which included 44 extras.

Brief scores:New Zealand 291/7 (Tom Blundell 51, Glenn Phillips 49*, Daryl Mitchell 44; Jacob Bethell 2-8, Sonny Baker 2-63) vs England