NOTTINGHAM: Ben Stokes hopes of a winning send-off in his final international appearance were hanging by a thread in the third Test with New Zealand on the brink of a series victory over England at the close on the fourth day at Trent Bridge on Sunday.

The hosts ended on 103-4, still needing 270 runs to secure a 2-1 victory in the series after New Zealand declared their second innings on 288-9.

On the ground where Bazball was born four years ago with England chasing down 299 to beat New Zealand in 50 overs, the curtain will come down on the Stokes captaincy era at the end of the match.

Led by Stokes, England blazed away in similar fashion in a breathless evening session but the loss of four wickets means New Zealand are in a dominant position heading into the fifth and final day.

Stokes announced his retirement during a lengthy afternoon spell with the ball and promoted himself to opener to launch a dizzying pursuit of a victory target of 373.

He hit Zak Foulkes over his head and into the stands off the 11th ball of the innings — the earliest any England player has hit a six in a Test.

There was another six in the fourth over off Nathan Smith before Stokes holed out to mid-wicket off Foulkes, for 30 off 20 balls, departing to a standing ovation.

Jacob Bethell went four balls later for a duck and Harry Brook, the favourite to succeed Stokes as Test captain, followed for 21 from nine balls after hitting his first ball for six, giving concussion substitute Foulkes his third wicket.

The loss of Ben Duckett to Ben Sears in the penultimate over left England 103-4 after 15 wild overs.

New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell made a courageous 100 not out off 241 balls, overcoming a series of blows to the head, forearm and hands to complete his sixth Test century. He struck ten fours and one six in a stay of almost seven hours.

Sears retired hurt with a finger injury but returned to the crease at the fall of the ninth wicket to help Mitchell reach his landmark.

Earlier, Stokes stunned the cricket world by announcing his retirement from international duty in the middle of the match. Stokes confirmed he would end his celebrated England career after the game.

Stokes’s announcement was made public shortly before tea on the fourth day with the 35-year-old, one of the outstanding all-rounders of his generation, having informed his team-mates in the dressing room before the start of Sunday’s play.

He was in the middle of a lengthy bowling spell, with news filtering into a stunned crowd as he was about to start his 11th over. Stokes then received a standing ovation from spectators.

And in a moment of pure sporting theatre, Stokes had Foulkes caught at slip with his next ball to spark yet more raucous cheers.

Sunday’s shock announcement came after Stokes returned to England duty at Trent Bridge following the fall-out from a London nightclub incident also involving teammate Gus Atkinson earlier this month.

Stokes was back after being omitted from England’s 253-run defeat in the second Test at the Oval for breaking a midnight curfew, alongside Atkinson, while celebrating at a London nightclub following the first-Test win over New Zealand.

“There’s something that I know is going to happen over the next two days, which is my last two days as your captain and my last two days representing England,” said Stokes in a clip of his dressing-room speech released by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

But for all his latest on-field heroics, with Stokes receiving applause when he led the team off at tea and a guard of honour after the resumption, England still had a tough task to avoid a seventh defeat in nine Tests.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 438 (D. Conway 157, T. Latham 151; B. Stokes 4-70)
ENGLAND (1st Innings) 354 (B. Duckett 113, J. Bethell 74; N. Smith 4-91)

NEW ZEALAND (2nd Innings, overnight 120-3):
T. Latham lbw b Archer4
D. Conway c Root b Archer5
H. Nicholls c Brook b Atkinson16
R. Ravindra lbw b Bashir94
D. Mitchell not out100
T. Blundell c Gay b Archer18
M. Santner c Smith b Stokes0
N. Smith c Smith b Archer1
Z. Foulkes c Brook b Stokes6
B. Sears not out19
W. O’Rourke lbw b Atkinson0

EXTRAS (B-9, LB-10, NB-5, W-1)25
TOTAL (for nine wickets declared, 94 overs)288
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-4 (Latham), 2-12 (Conway), 3-51 (Nicholls), 4-180 (Ravindra), 5-204 (Blundell), 6-205 (Santner), 7-206 (Smith), 8-224 (Foulkes), 8-274 (Sears, retired), 9-279 (O’Rourke)
BOWLING: Archer 20-4-53-4 (4nb), Atkinson 22-6-50-2 (1w), Tongue 14-0-75-0, Bashir 13-1-42-1 (1nb), Stokes 25-5-49-2

ENGLAND (2nd Innings):
B. Duckett c Mitchell b Sears36
B. Stokes c Mitchell b Foulkes30
J. Bethell lbw b Foulkes0
H. Brook c Smith b Foulkes21
J. Root not out9
E. Gay not out6

EXTRAS (LB-1)1
TOTAL (for four wickets, 15 overs)103
STILL TO BAT: J. Smith, G. Atkinson, J. Archer, J. Tongue, S. Bashir
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-50 (Stokes), 2-50 (Bethell), 3-72 (Brook), 4-95 (Duckett)
BOWLING: Smith 7-0-48-0, O’Rourke 0.1-0-2-0, Foulkes 5.5-0-42-3, Sears 1-0-3-1, Santner 1-0-7-0

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2026