England beat New Zealand by 115 runs.
On a pitch that wasn’t really fit for test match cricket, England won the first match of the international summer in a game dominated by seam bowling under grey skies at the home of cricket. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl on a greenish pitch under slate grey skies on Thursday morning. It quickly became apparent that pitch was going to be difficult when the English openers struggled to time the ball in the early overs. There was variable bounce immediately, and it became apparent that run scoring wasn’t going to be easy. Matt Henry only managed 4 overs before he had to leave the field with a back spasm that would restrict his bowling for the rest of the match.
Emilio Gay had the perfect start to his test career when he struck a Kyle Jamieson full toss to the boundary from his first delivery. This must have settled any nerves that Gay may have had. Another fine drive down the ground followed before he got a good ball from Jamieson, which he nicked to slip. The score moved to 31 before Nathan Smith trapped Ben Duckett LBW to spark an England collapse. Jacob Bethall and Joe Root shortly followed as England tumbled to 34/4.
Harry Brook was lucky to survive when he was dropped in the gully when on 8, as he went on to make an entertaining 56 as wickets tumbled around him. Jamie Smith was bowled when he misjudged a delivery from Jamieson before Ben Stokes was brilliantly caught by Kane Williamson in the slips off again off Jamieson as England fell to 94/6. Brook continued to attack as he was beginning to run out of partners. Gus Atkinson didn’t stay long before the rampant Jamieson trapped him LBW for his 4th wicket of the innings. Brook finally perished when he was caught by Jamieson off Smith while continuing to attack. Ollie Robinson gave Jamieson his 5th wicket when he nicked behind to Tom Blundell, leaving England 119/8. Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir slogged 22 for the last wicket before England were bowled all out for just 140. The impressive Jamieson finished with 5/62. Nathan Smith collected 3/38 as they continued to put the ball in the right areas.
It was then Robinson’s turn to have the perfect return to test match cricket. He trapped Devon Conway LBW with only his third ball before he removed Williamson two balls later when he was caught at short leg by Gay. Rachin Ravindra then followed LBW to the next ball as New Zealand were reduced to 2/3 after the second over. Robinson could not have dreamed of a better start to his test return. Atkinson then trapped Tom Latham as the score became 12/4, and the New Zealand top order had been blown away in just 6.4 overs. Daryl Mitchell and Blundell quickly followed as New Zealand were in danger of being blown away in just a single session. Glenn Phillips and Smith then began to counterattack before Tongue bowled Phillips for 34 on the second morning to leave the visitors 65/7. Jamieson came out swinging from the hip; he thought attack was the best form of defence as he made 38* from just 29 balls, but he couldn’t prevent his team being bowled out for 113. The tail offered very little resistance, and Robinson claimed his 5th wicket when he finished the innings by bowling Henry. He was excellent and finished with 5/39. Tongue bowled quickly and claimed 3/40.
England began better in their second innings. Duckett played positively before Will O’Rourke removed him for 33 with the score on 52. Bethall got an unplayable delivery from Henry that practically rolled along the deck when it pitched back of a good length. It was possibly the worst moment of the test match, and you could only feel sorry for the unlucky Bethall. Gay reached an impressive half-century in testing conditions, showing good defence. He was lucky when New Zealand didn’t review an LBW shout that was going on to hit the stumps when he was on 24. Smith had him caught behind when he’d made 57 to leave the score 126/3, and England’s lead began to look healthy. Root, Brook and Stokes then followed quickly as England lost 3 wickets for 1 run in just 7 balls as New Zealand tried to get back into the game. Jamie Smith then made a valuable 39 as he and Atkinson added 47 for the 7th wicket as England neared the 200 mark. Robinson then slogged 29 before the home side were bowled out for 226. Nathan Smith finished with impressive figures of 6/70 as he bowled with great heart.
Latham’s poor match was over when he edged Atkinson to Brook at slip from the 3rd ball as he only recorded 3 runs over both innings. Tongue trapped Williamson LBW late in the day as New Zealand slipped to 29/2 in their pursuit of 254. Atkinson then bowled nightwatchman O’Rourke before the close as the visitors lost their 3rd wicket. Ravindra and Mitchell fell in the short amount of play that was possible on the 3rd day, as rain took most of the day’s play. Blundell fell early on the 4th morning as England looked to wrap things up quickly. Phillips then counterattacked, along with Conway, the pair added 53 for the 7th wicket before Conway was removed by Stokes for 41. The final three wickets added 27 before Henry was bowled by Atkinson to give England a comfortable victory. Phillips finished with an unbeaten 44 as he ran out of partners. Atkinson claimed his 3rd five wicket haul at Lord’s when he finished with 5/30.
It was a good victory for England after their poor Ashes. It’s a shame that the Lords’ pitch was unsatisfactory, and something must really be done about this now, as it’s a big stain on the MCC and the ECB’s reputation. This test match would have been over inside three days had there not been rain on the Saturday. It was the unpredictability of the surface that was the major issue in my mind. There will always be sideways movement at Lord’s because of the slope, and that makes for good cricket at times. There was no pace in the surface, and both wicket keepers stood up to the seamers throughout the game. The up and down nature of the bounce is a big concern when you’ve got bowlers such as Tongue and O’Rourke regularly touching 90mph, and it’s a lottery of how the ball is going to bounce that is a major issue. This surface was most definitely not of test match standard.
Both sides now move on to The Oval, which has had its own problems this summer already. The pitches have been remarkably flat, and it’s been almost impossible for teams to force a victory there in the championship so far this summer. Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson will not be there either after the nightclub incident, which has caused even more issues for the ECB. Joe Root will take the captaincy for England as they look to push on for a series victory. For New Zealand, they’ll hope that Matt Henry can recover from his back issue as they try to get themselves back into the series, hopefully on a better surface.
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