New Zealand left it late to confirm Matt Henry's involvement in the second Test at The Oval. A hamstring niggle in the build-up to the series and back spasms on the first morning had severely limited his effectiveness at Lord's, and Tom Latham said on the eve of the match that he would have to prove his fitness in their final training session before he was selected.
They will be glad that he did. Henry led his team-mates off the field on Sunday morning, stump in one hand and ball in the other, after registering career-best figures of 11 for 109. He took all five of the England wickets to fall on the final day, including the prized scalp of Joe Root once again, and had shouldered a bigger workload (42.1 overs) than any other bowler in the match.
It was a remarkable individual performance which capped a four-year period that has seen Henry emerge as New Zealand's attack leader and lay claim to being one of the world's leading fast bowlers. Since the start of 2022, Henry has taken 115 wickets in 21 Tests at an average of 19.53; only Jasprit Bumrah has taken as many at a better average (17.67).
They are phenomenal numbers for a bowler who started his career with 37 wickets at 46.27 in his first 14 Tests. He was used largely as a change bowler, with Trent Boult and Tim Southee the established new-ball pair, and would often find himself thrown into the side as a replacement when someone else was unavailable.
"If you look at the start of his career, the personnel that we had - with the likes of Boult, Southee, [Neil] Wagner, [Colin] de Grandhomme - made it a little bit hard for Henners to squeeze into that team," Latham said. "He was someone that was always in our squad… but those opportunities were reasonably rare."
But he has gradually become the frontman, and has evolved from an express quick capable of hitting 90mph/145kph into a medium-fast metronome, who rarely misses the top of off. At The Oval, he operated with Tom Blundell standing up to the stumps for the majority of the match; nine of his 11 wickets this week came while the keeper was up.
It is a plan that has become increasingly common against England over the past year, with India and Australia both using it to pin batters to the crease. But this was not a case of New Zealand imitating Michael Neser and Alex Carey; Henry recalled when accepting his player-of-the-match award that they had used the ploy against Harry Brook in Wellington 18 months ago.
"Tim [Southee] and I were talking about it, just trying to keep guys in their crease for as long as [we] could because they wanted to walk out and get busy," Henry recalled. "Having a world-class operator like Tom is huge and he's always up for it as well. That day at the Basin was bouncing and he was absolutely loving it. He's just all-in… He was absolutely outstanding."
While some fast bowlers might protest the notion of a keeper standing up to them - as Ollie Robinson did early in the Lord's Test - Henry said that he was happy to try anything that would help him put New Zealand on top.
"I've always said I'd rather be effective than look like a hero. For me, it's actually [a question of] how do I get a job done? For us, that's to create pressure. We know that England like to score with a flow of runs, and how do we create pressure on something that's probably not offering as much, and what's the biggest threat? And that was [keeping] the stumps in play."
The ploy twice had a transformative impact on England's batting. In their first innings, he pinned both Root and Brook lbw in the space of three balls; in their second, he came on immediately after Brook had reached a 33-ball half-century and had him caught at slip - via a deflection off Blundell - during a spell of 1 for 10 from six overs, drying England's scoring up completely.
"Whatever was left in that wicket, he found it - whether it was variable bounce or getting the ball to nip," Root said, adding that Brook's dismissal had come from a rare delivery that nipped away off the seam. "Everything seemed to be coming back at him, towards the stumps and the pads, [but] he got one to hold its line."
Henry was nearly unhittable in the second innings: he conceded only two boundaries across 18.1 overs, both of which came in his new-ball spell. His final-day wickets were a fitting reward but served a broader purpose too, avoiding any unnecessary toil in the south London heat and sparing Will O'Rourke and Nathan Smith an extra day of bowling with a tight turnaround to next week's decider.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Henry's success was his durability, and his ability to bowl long spells despite his recent back issues. He was in such pain at Lord's that he struggled to sit down on the first day but fought through it to bowl 11 overs on the second day, then worked relentlessly between Tests to earn his spot at The Oval.
"I remember the game we played at Wellington a couple of years ago, where we lost by one run," Brendon McCullum, England's coach and Henry's first Test captain, recalled. "Most guys, you don't see them again in the game, yet he goes on and bowls a 10-over spell, which helped turn the game for them.
"Then again, at Lord's, he did the same thing: he goes down again with a back spasm, [but] he's able to still fulfil his role for the team, and then a week later he's taken 11 wickets. That shows his courage and his dedication to represent his country, and it's backed up his skill that he's got. He deserves all the accolades he's got."
Henry has extensive experience in English conditions - he has taken 150 wickets at 19.12 across five County Championship seasons with Worcestershire, Kent and Somerset - and he reaped the rewards of a simple gameplan. He is now one of two players - along with Latham - to have played in all three of New Zealand's away Test wins over England in the 21st century: Headingley 2015, Edgbaston 2021, and The Oval 2026.
"Since he's been able to take the new ball, being the leader of the attack, he's certainly gone from strength to strength," Latham said. "He's obviously been an absolute weapon for us. He's been so consistent, so accurate, and in the game of Test cricket - when you need to do things for long periods of time - he's someone that's able to do that. Credit to him this week."