It was on Tuesday that Joe Root said he felt "in a very different place" to when he wearily handed over the full-time Test captaincy over to Ben Stokes. Day two at the Kia Oval might have dragged him back to an all-too- familiar place. One he had hoped he would never have to return to again.
Interim or not, it was punishing days of Test cricket like this that pushed Root past the brink in 2022. The kind that compound your own feelings of inadequacy, giving that devil on the shoulder a megaphone to spout its doubt louder into your brain. On Thursday, New Zealand strung together their best moments of the series to wake that devil up from its four-year slumber.
With Stokes returning to action with Durham on Friday, the possibility of his return to the XI as early as Trent Bridge is now being accompanied by the understanding that it would be as captain. For all Root's enthusiasm at returning to lead for this second Test, he will have no qualms about handing the honour back. For that to happen, Stokes still needs to come out of the right side of the ongoing investigations into that breach of protocol after the Lord's victory. That looks far likelier than England coming out on the right side of this encounter.
Clearly, not all of this is on Root. But today's first session certainly was, as New Zealand piled on a further 100 runs for their final three wickets inside 19.2 overs. The tourists' doggedness in reaching 391, characterised by an engaging maiden Test hundred for Glenn Phillips, was encouraged by some odd tactics and odder use of resources. It was the worst morning for an England skipper since Stokes decided to crack on into the early hours of last Monday.
With three overs until the new ball, England once again spammed the short-ball tactic, much to the annoyance of pretty much everyone wishing them well. The tone was set when the ever-willing Sonny Baker sent the first ball of the day over the head of Phillips and wicketkeeper James Rew for four byes.
A steady flow of boundaries gave New Zealand an easy ride beyond 350, allowing them to gloss over their patchy work with the bat on day one. England may have got away with their prehistoric "fast bowler go smash" approach had Ben Duckett not shelled a simple catch at deep midwicket. Kyle Jamieson would have been dismissed to make it 313 for 8. He eventually departed with 367 on the board, as well as a couple blows on his helmet. His 87-run stand with Phillips is currently the highest for any wicket this series.
Perhaps the most egregious part of the day involved Jofra Archer. Or, rather, it didn't.
Having put Phillips through the wringer with a brutal eight-over spell at the end of day one, Archer was a spectator up until 12:32pm, when he was finally brought on from the Vauxhall End. The announcing of his name across the PA system drew ironic cheers from those who had mumbled in confused tones when Jacob Bethell's left-arm spin was handed a second new ball that was just five overs old.
It meant Phillips, who scored freely off all but Archer, faced just three balls from the 31-year old, the last of which took New Zealand's No.7 to three figures.
Six hours later, Archer was back in the middle as England's No.8, having previous occupied the No.11 spot as recently as the second Ashes Test in Brisbane. Naturally, Archer was given a taste of his own medicine from a fired-up Will O'Rourke, though he stayed the course alongside Jordan Cox to contain England's damage to 222 for 6.
It was O'Rourke's bumpers earlier in the innings that, not only did for Emilio Gay and Rew, but brought to the surface quiet reservations about both men's potential shortcomings against the short ball. Rew was done twice on the hook, but reprieved the first time by a third drop of the series from Rachin Ravindra down at fine leg.
Gay's dismissal - awkward, bat askew, head turned away - was in stark contrast to the hard work he had put in to reach his second half-century in as many innings. Having chastised himself for not cracking on in the second innings at Lord's, he was doubly rueful at missing out on a far better batting track and thus not fully making amends for having run out Duckett.
Gay had pushed for a single to extra cover in the eighth over of England's reply, and it was his call that found his opening partner well short at the striker's end, courtesy of a brilliant direct hit from Nathan Smith. Duckett at the time had been off to a flyer, contributing 36 of England's 45 runs, off just 25 balls. But perhaps the worst thing about it was that the pair had seen it coming after Smith had almost run out Gay in the 10-minute mini-session before lunch. They even addressed it in the break.
"It doesn't make me look too good, but we actually said, 'Be careful because Nathan Smith is pretty good, so maybe don't take a quick single to him'," Gay revealed at stumps. "And I did that exact thing.
"I think the most frustrating thing was how Ben was batting. Naturally, he was scoring so freely and putting pressure back on. I think for me and the team, that was probably the most disappointing thing... if anyone was to take one, it was probably me because of how he was batting."
That Gay did not clock Smith lurking speaks to an inexperience that is not just on him. This is an XI with five players boasting one or fewer caps coming into this week. Days like these require those already attuned to Test cricket's rhythms to sense a tilt against them, and hold firm against the sway. Ideally, you'd be able to turn to your captain and argue that, actually, maybe full and straight to the tail works best.
There was experience out there, of course. Vice-captain Harry Brook would have been captain for this game if Stokes had been absent for any other reason. He and Duckett, both part of an unchanged top five from last week, are the two generals in the ranks, with even Jacob Bethell a recent England white-ball captain.
Perhaps they could have been firmer with Root. In the cases of Bethell and Brook, maybe they should have offered more with the bat.
Or perhaps, given the situation around the team and the XI itself, such a day was always going to befall a patchwork England side. Root, from bitter experience, knows that better than most.