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| England v New Zealand: first Test, day one – live! | England v New Zealand: first Test, day one – live! |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 11.34am BST11:34 | |
| 8th over: England 22-1 (Ballance 1, Cook 14) It was a cracking ball from Southee, one that seemed back into the batsman and almost seemed to chase the bat like some sort of outside edge-seeking missile. Quite apart from that being a disappointing start to Adam Lyth’s England career, it also means the exit of his excellent cable-knit sleeveless sweater. Fortunately Gary Ballance has come out wearing something very similar. He gets off the mark immediately with a clip to leg and Cook squirts a loose drive uppishly through the vacant backward point area but picks up four runs for his trouble. | |
| 11.30am BST11:30 | |
| WICKET! Lyth c Watling b Southee 7 (England 17-1) | |
| Southee strikes! Lyth pokes at one just outside off, the ball beats the outside edge, and the entire New Zealand side go up in celebration. Up goes umpire Ravi’s finger and, after pausing to consider his options, Lyth has to walk. | |
| Updated at 11.30am BST | |
| 11.28am BST11:28 | |
| 7th over: England 17-0 (Lyth 7, Cook 10) An early change from McCullum – the debutant Matt Henry comes into the attack. Lyth flicks for a couple then guides him neatly down the ground for three. | |
| “It’s not really fair that the English supporters have taken on our traditional role of disliking the England team,” writes Australia’s Lee Henderson. “What am I going to talk about during the Ashes with English supporters? Our shared hatred of the players? Or do we call a truce and discuss the fashion on display in the stands or ... erm, football? Leave our England team alone they’re ours to dislike and abuse not yours. Bloody Poms.” | |
| 11.23am BST11:23 | |
| 6th over: England 12-0 (Lyth 2, Cook 10) Southee strays onto Lyth’s pads – looking for the same inswinging delivery that had Cook in trouble in his last over – and gets flicked away to deep backward square for a single. And Cook is almost in difficulties again from another inswinger, this time though he gets just enough on the ball to tickle fine for four more. Had he missed that, it would’ve been curtains. | |
| 11.20am BST11:20 | |
| 5th over: England 7-0 (Lyth 1, Cook 6) The first boundary of the day, but it’s a streaky one for Cook – the ball flies high and wide of cover point after thwocking into the outside half of the bat. Might have been a slightly slower ball from Boult. McCullum has four slips, a gully and a man hovering at point. | |
| “It’s not really a question of being Team KP – he’s just the guy who the ECB screw over most regularly, and with the least justification,” writes Nick O’Connor. “At the moment, it could be Team Moores after his public humiliation by the ECB, or even Team Downton, given the appalling advice he received after taking the job. | |
| “The ECB has its own set of priorities, which include keeping certain people (from the right sort of families) in power and punishing people who have been troublesome. Acting in an honest, decent way, engaging with the fans or even winning matches are a long way down the list. It’s very difficult to support the ECB team.” | |
| Updated at 11.35am BST | |
| 11.16am BST11:16 | |
| 4th over: England 3-0 (Lyth 1, Cook 2) A huge appeal as Cook is trapped in front by a Southee inswinger. It’s a cracking delivery – pitching on middle and coming back to hit middle-and-leg – and close, very close. The umpire shakes his head, though, and McCullum opts not to review. Correctly, it turns out, as Hawkeye shows the ball only clipping the bails. Southee responds by beating the outside edge with another jaffa. A poke just forward of point from the last adds another single. | |
| “Agreed re: England being over managed,” writes David Kelsey. “Contrast with the likes of Ryan Harris, Steve Smith, Peter Siddle and (whisper it) David Warner; all of whom seem decent people and far from auto tuned. Oh, and I’ll be rooting for Australia in the summer for the first time in 20 years as a result ...” Yikes! | |
| 11.10am BST11:10 | |
| 3rd over: England 2-0 (Lyth 1, Cook 1) Cook gets off the mark with a single after a straight one from Boult slides off the face of the bat and into the off side. The bowler then beats Lyth – who seems to be wearing a pleasingly old-school knitted tank-top effort over his shirt – with one that swings away sharply. | |
| “I think the worrying aspect is how so many people are currently so emotionally torn by this team,” wrtites Ian Truman. “I genuinely don’t know how I feel now when I see Cook scoring runs. It’s almost like when you want your girlfriend to end it, to save you from having to do it, but she seems perfectly happy to just meander on in a listless relationship … erm, sorry, what was I saying?” | |
| 11.06am BST11:06 | |
| 2nd over: England 1-0 (Lyth 1, Cook o) Tim Southee from the Pavilion End. He’s a little too wide outside off and Lyth watches a maiden fly past without offering a shot. | |
| “Let them be human beings,” writes James de Mellow. “Ballance and Jordan’s pressers on Tuesday were painful. I don’t have a clue what Gary Ballance is actually like - we just see ECB automaton, so we assume he’s an ECB automaton. I don’t blame the players - they’re young men who’ll do what they’re told. But all the problems lead back to excessive ECB micromanagement - of bowling actions, of what players say, of what’s a chaseable target …” | |
| I think that’s a very fair point. I know a load of guys who played alongside Ballance in Derbyshire club cricket when he first came over from Zimbabwe – and a couple of the stories they tell suggest he’s anything but an automaton. | |
| 11.02am BST11:02 | 11.02am BST11:02 |
| 1st over: England 1-0 (Lyth 1, Cook o) Trent Boult begins with the ball at the Nursery End for New Zealand and Adam Lyth gets his first Test run from his first Test ball, dropping and skittering through for a quick single. Boult, left-arm over, finds a bit of movement off the pitch to Cook, jagging one past the outside edge (though Cook may have been bringing his bat inside the line). A good, tight, testing start from Boult. | 1st over: England 1-0 (Lyth 1, Cook o) Trent Boult begins with the ball at the Nursery End for New Zealand and Adam Lyth gets his first Test run from his first Test ball, dropping and skittering through for a quick single. Boult, left-arm over, finds a bit of movement off the pitch to Cook, jagging one past the outside edge (though Cook may have been bringing his bat inside the line). A good, tight, testing start from Boult. |
| Updated at 11.28am BST | |
| 10.59am BST10:59 | 10.59am BST10:59 |
| Blue skies, a few fluffy white clouds around, green grass, Daz-bright whites … ah, what a sight. Off we go then … | Blue skies, a few fluffy white clouds around, green grass, Daz-bright whites … ah, what a sight. Off we go then … |
| 10.57am BST10:57 | 10.57am BST10:57 |
| Dickie Bell rings the bell at Lord’s and out come the players. | Dickie Bell rings the bell at Lord’s and out come the players. |
| Updated at 11.26am BST | |
| 10.56am BST10:56 | 10.56am BST10:56 |
| Is there anything England can do to make this team a bit more likeable? Or is it simply that you’re either in Team ECB or Team KP, and there’s nothing anyone can really do about it? | Is there anything England can do to make this team a bit more likeable? Or is it simply that you’re either in Team ECB or Team KP, and there’s nothing anyone can really do about it? |
| 10.52am BST10:52 | 10.52am BST10:52 |
| Issues, issues … | Issues, issues … |
| “Re. the increasing dislike for England,” begins David Hopkins. “This is particularly noticeable when you compare the current state of affairs to that, not so very long ago, when the team were not only successful but generally very genial. I date it specifically to the moment Paul Collingwood left the scene.” | “Re. the increasing dislike for England,” begins David Hopkins. “This is particularly noticeable when you compare the current state of affairs to that, not so very long ago, when the team were not only successful but generally very genial. I date it specifically to the moment Paul Collingwood left the scene.” |
| “Batting Moeen Ali at No 8 does strike me as the selectors’ desperation to give the impression that England are so blessed with middle-order batsmen that we can afford to play him that low down, so how can there be any need for Pietersen?” writes Richard Stirzaker. “I’m not convinced.” | “Batting Moeen Ali at No 8 does strike me as the selectors’ desperation to give the impression that England are so blessed with middle-order batsmen that we can afford to play him that low down, so how can there be any need for Pietersen?” writes Richard Stirzaker. “I’m not convinced.” |
| 10.44am BST10:44 | 10.44am BST10:44 |
| “I’m generally an incredibly mild mannered man but that picture of Cook and Broad smugly grinning made me want to slap them round the head with a big wet fish,” writes Paul Worthington. “What has English cricket done to me …” | “I’m generally an incredibly mild mannered man but that picture of Cook and Broad smugly grinning made me want to slap them round the head with a big wet fish,” writes Paul Worthington. “What has English cricket done to me …” |
| This is something that has become particularly noticeable recently whenever you take a dip into the OBO inbox – the extent to which large chunks of this England team are so disliked. True, those “large chunks” seem mainly to be Cook and Broad, but still. I can’t remember a time when public support for the England team has been so thin. | This is something that has become particularly noticeable recently whenever you take a dip into the OBO inbox – the extent to which large chunks of this England team are so disliked. True, those “large chunks” seem mainly to be Cook and Broad, but still. I can’t remember a time when public support for the England team has been so thin. |
| 10.36am BST10:36 | 10.36am BST10:36 |
| The teams | The teams |
| England: Cook, Lyth, Ballance, Bell, Root, Stokes, Buttler, Ali, Broad, Wood, Anderson. | England: Cook, Lyth, Ballance, Bell, Root, Stokes, Buttler, Ali, Broad, Wood, Anderson. |
| New Zealand: Latham, Guptill, Williamson, Taylor, McCullum, Anderson, Watling, Craig, Southee, Henry, Boult. | New Zealand: Latham, Guptill, Williamson, Taylor, McCullum, Anderson, Watling, Craig, Southee, Henry, Boult. |
| Moeen Ali at No8 still feels a strange thing to type. And you wonder if Stuart Broad will bat at nine or lower. | Moeen Ali at No8 still feels a strange thing to type. And you wonder if Stuart Broad will bat at nine or lower. |
| 10.33am BST10:33 | 10.33am BST10:33 |
| Alastair Cook says he was a little undecided on what he would’ve done had he won the toss. He says his XI is a really exciting team. | Alastair Cook says he was a little undecided on what he would’ve done had he won the toss. He says his XI is a really exciting team. |
| 10.32am BST10:32 | 10.32am BST10:32 |
| The toss | The toss |
| Brendan McCullum calls heads … and it lands heads up. New Zealand win the toss and they’re going to have a bowl. | Brendan McCullum calls heads … and it lands heads up. New Zealand win the toss and they’re going to have a bowl. |
| McCullum says he’s has no concerns over the transition from T20 to Test match cricket. Martin Guptill comes in for his first Test in two years and Matt Henry is in for his debut. | McCullum says he’s has no concerns over the transition from T20 to Test match cricket. Martin Guptill comes in for his first Test in two years and Matt Henry is in for his debut. |
| Updated at 11.32am BST | |
| 10.00am BST10:00 | 10.00am BST10:00 |
| Preamble | Preamble |
| Hello all. So an English Test summer begins with that comforting, familiar sense of chaos and dread. Like a cozy old quilt … that’s on fire in places and covered in custard in others. | Hello all. So an English Test summer begins with that comforting, familiar sense of chaos and dread. Like a cozy old quilt … that’s on fire in places and covered in custard in others. |
| Anyway, the news from Lord’s this morning is that Andrew Strauss has handed Test caps to Adam Lyth (No666) and Mark Wood (No667) so we’ll have two debutants for the home side confirmed when we have the toss. | Anyway, the news from Lord’s this morning is that Andrew Strauss has handed Test caps to Adam Lyth (No666) and Mark Wood (No667) so we’ll have two debutants for the home side confirmed when we have the toss. |
| Updated at 10.31am BST | Updated at 10.31am BST |