The appeal of Test cricket comes from its variety and unpredictability. Every match develops differently, and that is also true of the ones where the cricket is poor.
Lord’s has seen its share of forgettable contests, and the 150th Test staged at the ground belonged in that category. A heavily criticised surface stayed true to its awkward character until the final moment of England’s 115-run victory over New Zealand in the first Test.
Severe lateral movement and uneven bounce created danger from every angle for the batters. Jacob Bethell’s second-innings dismissal almost kept underground, while Gus Atkinson sealed the match by hitting Matt Henry’s off stump around three-quarters of the way up. That dismissal took the match tally of bowled or lbw wickets to 24, setting a new record for a Test in England.
Atkinson, already familiar with the Lord’s honours board, joined Ollie Robinson, Kyle Jamieson and Nathan Smith in taking a five-wicket haul in the match. After the annual run-fest of the IPL, few would deny the bowlers a brief spell in the spotlight. Still, the difference was extreme.
Across the Test, only 996 balls were bowled, the third-lowest total for any men’s Test in which both teams were dismissed twice. The deliveries that kept low, struck shins, hit gloves or deviated sharply all contributed to a wicket every 25 balls. A format built on rhythm was instead dragged into an uneven, unsettled pattern.
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Yet one real quality of Test cricket remained: players still had to go out and find a way to do their jobs. They still had to adjust to the rhythm, however irregular it became.
England were ultimately more prepared to take the risks required. They produced the only two half-centuries of the match, both loaded with danger and assisted by fortune. Harry Brook’s 56 and Emilio Gay’s 57 each carried the feeling of several chances, with both players offered two reprieves before reaching their 26th and maiden fifty-plus scores, respectively.
“It probably was the right surface to go out there and put a little pressure back on their bowlers,” Brook said of an innings that included ten boundaries. Gay’s effort was quieter, with eight fours across 95 balls, but he still committed to his strokes. Despite several missed drives, his first boundary was an aerial carve through backward point from his 21st delivery.
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“I thought the way that we committed to trying to score off anything that was slightly loose on this wicket is what allowed us to get up to 250 run lead,” Ben Stokes said of an approach also followed by Ben Duckett, who made 33, and Jamie Smith, who scored 39, in the second innings. “Because we knew that we weren’t going to get that many scoring opportunities from this New Zealand attack. [They] were so relentless in their plans and executions, and we knew we had to capitalise on anything that was presented to us to score, because in between that was going to be tough.”
It is fair to say England’s batting group has sometimes reached too quickly for the most aggressive option when a more measured response may have worked. This time, however, New Zealand’s mistake was failing to follow that lead, or to recognise the early signal after bowling England out for 140 inside 40 overs despite being effectively a bowler down because of Matt Henry’s opening-day back spasm. During that spell, Robinson, watching closely from the home dressing room, had worked out that stump-to-stump wobble seam was the method to use, leading to a triple-wicket maiden in his first over.
Glenn Phillips was the only New Zealand batter to show the necessary initiative. He ended as the match’s top scorer, making 78 runs from 91 balls while being dismissed only once. Coming in at 20 for 5 and then at 58 for 6 in a chase of 254 placed the responsibility on him to use his considerable power. Only during Phillips’ unbeaten 44 from 52 balls on Sunday did Stokes choose to contain, spreading the field and turning attention toward the other end.
Phillips, as one of the more destructive T20 batters around, can access that part of his game more easily than most. But the rest of New Zealand’s top seven are not lacking shots. Tom Blundell is the only one among them with fewer than 90 international white-ball caps. Even after the match was over, they were left reflecting on their own lack of intent.
“I know the guys are already speaking about that – whether it was an opportunity to come out and be a little bit more positive,” Tom Latham said in his post-match press conference after leaving a subdued dressing room.
“In saying that, the ball still was doing plenty and the result may have been the same. But whether we could have showed a little bit more intent, certainly if we’re offered it… We saw GP [Phillips] today – I think the way he came out and played positive cricket, it’s his natural game, but it put them under a little bit of pressure. I guess if we were potentially able to do that a little bit earlier then things may have been different.
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“Whether you win or lose, you’re always looking to fine-tune things, and things that you could maybe have done better, and I guess that could have been one thing.”
A poor Test match finally reached its end. For England, it brought a gritty but valuable win to begin a new era under Brendon McCullum and gave them a 1-0 lead in the Crowe-Thorpe Trophy.
New Zealand leave with plenty they will want to forget, apart from the lesson that, if they meet another surface like this, moving toward positivity may be the better response. For their sake, and for Test cricket more broadly, it would be better if that lesson does not need to be used again soon.
