In the second Test at The Oval, Matt Henry took just 31 deliveries on the fifth morning to claim the remaining five England wickets, post his best match score of his Test career, and ensure New Zealand's commanding victory by 253 runs to level the series. Joe Root's prized scalp marked the beginning of the collapse. For the second time in the game, Henry, who had been a problem for the stand-in skipper throughout the match, hit another shot that bounced back from a good distance and caught him lbw. England's attempts to achieve the daunting target were effectively ended when Root was dismissed for 77. On a worn fifth-day surface, Jofra Archer's stumps were rattled by a delivery that stayed low after a couple of balls. After TSK were asked to bat first, the 41-year-old fast bowler struck with his first ball, dismissing Saiteja Mukkamalla. In the subsequent over, Brody Couch made the more significant cut, retiring Faf du Plessis, TSK's centurion from the previous game, for just six runs. As they Milind Kumar inside the Powerplay and Shubham Ranjane just beyond it in the eighth over, TSK struggled to get going. Wiaan Mulder and Rilee Rossouw tried to team up for the fifth wicket, but they didn't get very far. Before Rossouw was run out in the 12th over, they scored 31 off 22, reducing TSK's total to 81/5. Before Hardus Viljoen stitched three key stands to raise TSK to a respectable total, TSK slid further quickly to 86/7. He and Donnovan Ferreira were the first to stop the slide, putting the team over 100 runs ahead. They batted together for 23 deliveries and scored 36 runs, but when Ferreira was run out, they split up. In the 19th over, Amshi de Silva attempted to scoop a Siddle delivery when he was hit on the wicket. However, TSK nearly reached 150 with 50 runs in the final four overs to give their bowlers a chance to win the match. Ravichandran Ashwin also made his long-awaited MLC debut in this game, going 0-24 in two overs. In the first over of the run chase, Nandre Burger bowled out Finn Allen, but SFU won thanks to a partnership between Pretorius and his captain Short for second wicket. They quickly moved on from the first wicket because the Powerplay was easy with fours and sixes. They also scored 15 runs against Viljoen and Amshi, pushing their team past 50 in just the fifth over. At the conclusion of Powerplay, SFU had 65, well above the asking rate at that point. The restrictions on the field were lifted, but the two batters' desire to locate the boundary did not, as they continued in the same pattern. In the ninth over, Amshi finally put an end to their devastation by trapping Short leg before for a 19-ball 31. Pretorius reached a 32-ball half-century after an over. SFU needed to score less than six in the second half of the chase with 98/2 in 10 overs. During this time, the boundaries became less rigid, but SFU remained confident in their pursuit. Another partnership was formed by Connor Esterhuizen and the opener, but only made it to the 15th over before Viljoen bowled him out. After that, Sanjay Krishnamurthi joined Pretorius and witnessed the remainder of the chase.