Glenn Phillips flailed onto his back and lay prone for a few seconds, before cocking his head forwards and then sticking his thumb up towards the New Zealand dressing-room. He had just evaded an 86mph/138kph short ball from Jofra Archer, aimed at his throat, yet the sight of his sunglasses beneath his helmet turned this into a moment of pantomime drama.
It provided the defining image of a compelling duel from which Phillips escaped unscathed. He had raced to 33 off 23 balls when Joe Root summoned Archer for a fourth spell and reached the close unbeaten on 49 off 74, but had to duck, sway and even collapse to withstand a brutal eight-over barrage.
It was early in the spell that Phillips called for his sunglasses, a huge pair of black wraparounds designed to keep out the glare from the light on the sightscreen. The Oval crowd jeered sarcastically at a close-up on the big screens, and were immediately captivated when Archer struck Phillips on the shoulder with an inevitable bouncer.
Phillips faced 41 balls from Archer after tea, of which 33 pitched short of a traditional good length. He scored only 10 runs - including a deft uppercut over wicketkeeper James Rew's head - and wore several blows on the body. The final ball of Archer's spell jammed his finger against the bat handle, requiring treatment, but he shook it off after a short delay.
He played with total conviction in his gameplan on an even opening day - just as he had at Lord's, when he was the top-scorer in the match and the only New Zealand batter to assert himself on England's attack. Phillips has scored 127 runs for once out in the series, more than twice as many as any of his team-mates, and they enjoyed the show on Wednesday evening.
"When he's lying on the ground and giving us the thumbs up, we're chuckling away," Daryl Mitchell said with a smile. "He's one of my good mates. We've played a lot of cricket with him now, and it's just cool to see him do what he does and be himself on the international stage."
Phillips scored almost exclusively through the off side early in his innings, pinging Josh Tongue and Sonny Baker for early boundaries and playing on instinct. He is yet to truly crack Test cricket and spent the month before this series on the bench at the IPL, but has already proved why New Zealand's management are determined to find a role for him in this side.
"He's an absolute beauty," Mitchell added. "He's an energiser bunny and he's really clear on his process and how he wants to go about things. For me, it's really cool to see him be really present. If you ever hear him talk, he talks about his process and how he wants to do that ball-by-ball.
"He thrives in moments like tonight: he's the entertainer, he's got the shades on, he's looking cool. He loves that stuff… That was a seriously tough spell to get through, the way Jof obviously was charging in there and banging that wicket. It was cool to see GP do what GP does."
Phillips' innings transformed New Zealand's position from 188 for 5 to 291 for 7 overnight, a score which both sides suggested was roughly even after Root had won the toss on a green-tinged pitch. It could yet prove to be a winning score: last year, India were bowled out for 224 in the first innings here, and ended up winning a thriller on the final morning.
His clarity stood in contrast to that of his team-mates, who regularly provided England's much-changed, inexperienced attack with openings. That was epitomised by both Tom Blundell, who top-scored with 51, and allrounder Nathan Smith, who gifted soft wickets to Jacob Bethell in the final session while Phillips was seeing off Archer's hostile spell.
"What it has done is allow us to start again tomorrow," Mitchell said. "Hopefully, putting time into their bowlers' legs will be really important in the nature of this Test match over the five days, which it looks like it potentially could go. Every partnership is going to be really important, and it'd be nice to hopefully get a few more in the morning and then we'll have a go."