"Ah, f***!" yelped Tom Blundell as Matthew Fisher, England's No. 9, shuffled across his stumps and scooped a ball from Matt Henry straight into his midriff. "Back?" he pleaded with Henry, who grudgingly agreed to his request. It marked the end of a masterclass from Blundell, whose keeping while standing up to the stumps to New Zealand's seamers transformed the Oval Test match.
Henry's seventh Test five-for - and first against England - owed far more to Blundell than the single catch he claimed off his bowling suggests. Henry is not as quick as he once was but still hits 84mph/135kph, yet Blundell's bravery and dexterity meant that he was at the stumps for the vast majority of Henry's 24 overs, including all five dismissals.
The first two were the most important: Joe Root and Harry Brook, both pinned lbw on the second evening. Blundell celebrated both wickets enthusiastically with Henry in the full knowledge that his presence had played a huge role in them, restricting their freedom to step out of their crease as they often do to negate swing or seam movement.
It is the third series in a row which has seen keepers standing up to the stumps to keep England's middle-order pair in their crease against the seamers: Dhruv Jurel occasionally did so for India last summer, including when Brook was bowled trying to sweep Akash Deep at Lord's, while Alex Carey's glovework was a major factor in Michael Neser's success in the Ashes.
England even employed it themselves at Lord's, with Jamie Smith sending for his helmet to keep Daryl Mitchell in his crease; the ploy paid immediate dividends when Ollie Robinson pinned him on the front pad.
But Blundell's starring moment came on the third morning, turning a short and wide ball into a wicket with an outstanding take after a sharp deflection off Jofra Archer's outside edge. Blundell was thrilled to cling onto the chance, jumping up and down in celebration, and his catch was a demonstration of his exceptional technique.
"You've got to make sure that you're always beside the ball," Dinesh Karthik, the former India wicketkeeper, explained on Sky. "When you're keeping to spinners, you can get in line with the ball because it's not that quick. But to the pacers, when they're bowling 80mph, you stay beside [it], giving yourself a little space in case there's extra bounce."
This was the perfect illustration: Blundell's gloves started low, then came up and over his right shoulder. He kept his head as still as possible, and kept his eyes trained on the ball right onto the bat and into his gloves before flinging it away in jubilation.
"Tom is unbelievably impressive," Henry said. "It was a couple of years ago when we started implementing the keeper up. Both sides of the wicket, up and down, it doesn't seem to faze him and he's always up for the challenge. The keeping display he showed today was some of the best I've seen in a long time.
"The key thing is creating a challenge. We parked the ego a long time ago. You can still bowl with energy and have the keeper up. For that mentality of still being able to hit the wicket, you need to trust in the keeper and I think that's the key part of the relationship there... We're very lucky to have him."
Blundell's success owes at least in part to the work that he has done with a former England keeper. James Foster has regularly worked with New Zealand as an assistant coach in recent years and was with the team on training days before each Test in London. The pair have worked closely together, and Blundell's glovework now evokes Foster's own in his heyday.
It was only six months ago that Blundell's place in New Zealand's Test team was under significant scrutiny. From March 2023 until mid-December last year, he had averaged just 19.21 with the bat across 19 Tests, with one hundred and only one further half-century across 31 innings.
Blundell was ruled out of New Zealand's second Test against West Indies in Wellington with a hamstring injury, and watched his replacement Mitch Hay - ten years his junior at 25 - make 61 in his maiden innings while keeping tidily. It looked like the precursor to a more permanent change behind the stumps.
But New Zealand's management is a loyal bunch, conscious of the relatively small pool of players they have to choose from, and Blundell kept his spot. He repaid some of the selectors' faith with a career-best 186 in the one-off Test against Ireland late last month, and was one of only four batters to reach 50 across both teams' first innings at The Oval.
The impact of his confidence to stand up both to Henry and to Nathan Smith's fast-mediums cannot be overstated, and was underlined by comparison to his opposite number. James Rew, on Test debut, grounded a chance down the leg side off Blundell on the opening day, conceded 22 first-innings byes, and struggled again behind the stumps in New Zealand's second innings.
He put down a catch low to his left when Josh Tongue found Rachin Ravindra's outside edge, and missed another chance when flinging himself to his right, much to Jofra Archer's frustration. When he stood up to the stumps off Fisher's bowling, the contrast with Blundell's immaculate glovework was evident; it was an instant reminder to Rew that the difference between county and Test cricket - both in terms of standards and scrutiny - is vast.