England tighten grip on Lord's Test as rain-hit day leaves New Zealand reeling

Less than 10 overs of play was possible on the third day at Lord's as England further strengthened their position in the first Test by dismissing Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell and reducing New Zealand to 55 for 5, with the visitors still 199 runs away from the target.

Rain ensured a delayed start to the day, with the first session getting washed away completely. When play eventually resumed at 12:43 PM, it was short-lived, as another rain spell halted play after 11 deliveries.

Play resumed again after 33 minutes, and New Zealand resumed play with Devon Conway driving Gus Atkinson for a boundary. There was some zip on offer for the pacers, and moreover, the bounce was a bit unpredictable - some deliveries shot up and some stayed low. Ollie Robinson did trouble Rachin Ravindra with the uneven bounce for a while before cleaning him up on 8 with another delivery that stayed low.

He added one more to his tally in his next over by trapping Daryl Mitchell legbefore for a duck with a nip backer. Conway braced through the testing period and remained unbeaten when another spell of rain, at 2:10 PM, ensured there was no more play possible.

Brief Scores: England 140 & 226 (Emilio Gay 57, Jamie Smith 39; Nathan Smith 6-70, William O'Rourke 2-45) lead New Zealand 113 (Kyle Jamieson 38*; Ollie Robinson 5-39, Josh Tongue 3-40) & 55/5 (Devon Conway 19*; Gus Atkinson 2-16, Ollie Robinson 2-18) by 198 runs.