England Fight Hard, Beat New Zeland in an Exciting Test Match- England v New Zealand 1st Test Review

England Fight Hard, Beat New Zeland in an Exciting Test Match- England v New Zealand 1st Test Review: The New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum, had won the toss and asked the English side to bat. The pitch at Lord’s offered assistance to seam bowlers and while the batsmen could also enjoy the bounce on the track.

Playing XI:

England:

Alastair Cook(C), Adam Lyth, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Butler(Wk), Moen Ali, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, James Anderson.

New Zealand:

Martin Guptil, Tom Latham(Wk), Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum(C), Corey Anderson, BJ Watling, Mark Craig, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Trent Boult.

Day 1 Report:

England Ist Innings:

The first day of the Test match belonged to both England and New Zealand. Having opted to bowl, Baz threw the ball to Southee to start the proceedings for their side. Boult operated with the new ball at the other end. Cook and Lyth were the openers for the English side.

The Kiwi pacers were excellent with the ball and gave nothing away and they were rewarded for some nice piece of bowling. England lost their first wicket in the 8th over of the innings. Lyth had to pay the price for poking at an excellent delivery.  England batsmen had no answers to the pace attack of the Black caps. Ballance also had to depart early and they were in deep trouble early on in their innings. At the 13th over mark, they were 30 for the loss of 4 wickets. The home side needed some good partnerships to get to a respectable total.

Joe Root and Ben Stokes looked to spend some time in the middle. They both complemented each other and their innings was mixed with both aggression and caution.  Both Stokes and Root got to their half centuries. The pacers had a bad day at the office later on. They were bowling too straight to Stokes on his pads and made it easy for him to score runs. McCullum would have expected more from Craig, but he never looked to take wickets, as a result he was punished all around the park. At the end of Day 1, England was 354/7.

Brief Score:

Joe Root- 98, Stokes- 92, Butler- 67

Boult-2/70, Henry- 3/ 93, Southee- 1/ 82

Day 2 Report:

England started the second day positively, Moeen Ali was in sublime touch, and he put the pacers under huge pressure. Ali was looking to be aggressive and scored as much as possible. He eventually got to his half century. He was later dismissed for 58. The English tail couldn’t last long as the Kiwi pacers were on top of their game. They were bowled out for 389. Henry and Boult were the pick of the bowlers as they bagged 4 wickets each.

New Zealand Ist Innings:

New Zealand openers Guptil and Latham came to bat. Broad and Anderson operated with the new ball. Both the batsmen were on top of their game and attacked the English pacers right from the beginning. Cook had no answers to both these batsmen. Guptil was caught at first slip, when he edged the ball from Wood. But to Cook’s disappointment it was from a no ball. So Guptil survived. Finally England managed to break this partnership when the score reached 148. Another wicket fell in quick succession. But Willamson and Taylor calmed the nerves in the dressing room.

They were just brilliant and took on the English bowlers. Williamson looked to be aggressive once he reached his 50. The English bowlers were frustrated and weren’t able to bowl proper length and line. At the end of Day 3 play, New Zealand was on top after scoring 303-2. 

Brief Scores:

Williamson- 92, Taylor-47, Guptil- 70, Latham- 59

Broad- 1/42, Moeen Ali- 1/52

Day 3 Report:

The third day witnessed some great batting from the visitors. Earlier in the second day, Williamson was batting on 92, and he went on to score his 10th Test hundred and his first at Lord’s and against England. He never gave up even after getting to triple figure mark. He was patient and slowly started to take on the English bowlers.

The 180 run stand for the third wicket was finally broken by Broad. The idea of bowling short to Taylor finally paid off. He nicked it while trying to play the pull short. After this wicket, it was the skipper to come to the crease. He played his usual game and was always attacking. Wood got rid of the New Zealand skipper. After this wicket, the batsmen were tumbling at the other end, while Watling stood. He started to unfold and got to a quick made half century. Moeen Ali bowled pretty well and picked up 3 wickets. New Zealand managed to score 523 for the loss of 10 wickets. The visitors were sitting on top with a comfortable lead of 134 runs.

Brief Score:

Kane Williams 132

Broad- 3/77, Wood-3/93 

England IInd Innings:

English openers Cook and Lyth started their innings slowly Once again the new ball bowlers were terrific for the black caps. They did well to deceive Lyth and got him early in the 8th over. He was dismissed for 12. After bowling some short balls, Boult bowled a full length ball and Lyth edged it to 2nd slip. Ballance was the next man to share the crease with Cook. His stay was not too long. Southee got rid of Ballance. That was an excellent delivery; just a hint of away movement and Ballance was stuck to his crease and saw his stumps shattered. At the end of Day 3, England were- 74/2 

Brief Score:

Cook-32*, Bell- 29*

Boult- 1/22, Southee-1/30

Day 4 Report:

Bell and Cook came on to continue their innings, Southee and Boult bowled with the new ball. Southee removed Bell very early in the first over of the day’s play. Cook was looking to get his eye in and looked settled for a long innings. Root joined Cook and started to take on the kiwis. The off spinner, Craig had a poor day at the office as he went for plenty. Since the wicket started turning, Baz constantly brought him to bowl from one end. Sensing this, both Cook and Root took on the spinner. They never allowed him to settle to a particular line.

Cook was very calm and selective in his shots. He was once again exceptional and got to his hundred. On the other hand, Root missed to score 100 for the second time in this match. In the first innings, he got out after scoring 98. In this innings he was dismissed for 84. The New Zealand bowlers constantly bowled short balls to Root and they were rewarded finally. Stokes joined Cook and was looking to strike hard right from the beginning. He scored the fastest hundred at Lord’s ground. He scored this breathtaking hundred in just 85 balls. This had put the home team under a commanding position at the end of Day 4. After Stokes fell, Butler came on to bat. He also couldn’t last longer; this track was always hard for any new batsman to score right from the beginning. At the end of Day 4, England was 429-6.

Brief Score:

Cook- 153, Stokes- 101, Root-84

Henry-2/103, Southee-2/109

Day 5 Report:

The 5th and final day of the Test match started with the English captain and Mooen Ali on strike. Cook would have liked to carry on from where he had left the previous day, but he was dismissed early on. He poked at the ball going away from him and got out. After this wicket, the English tail couldn’t stay longer. They were dismissed for 478. This meant that the visitors had to score 345 to win this Test match, with almost 2 sessions of play left.

The final day track offered more assistance to the spinners and Moeen Ali was the key man for the home side. New Zealand openers Guptil and Latham came out to bat in the middle and Broad and Anderson operated with the new ball. The English team drew the first blood in the very first over, by getting Guptil out.  Taylor got off to a start but couldn’t carry on, he fell cheaply. Williamson and Watling played sensibly on this turning track and calmed the nerves in the dressing room, but Williamson couldn’t carry on. Stokes removed Williamson and McCullum in successive balls and this meant the home team had every chances of winning this match.

The English side required 5 wickets for the victory with almost 60 more overs to be bowled. Anderson and Watling showed some patience but English bowlers were on top of their game. They removed both these batsmen; the tail had to play for another 20 more overs which were very difficult on the tricky fifth day track. Wickets fell in quick succession and thus the visitors couldn’t avoid a loss in the first Test match. Stokes changed the complexion of the game by removing both Williamson and McCullum in the same over and not to forget the quick hundred he scored of just 85 balls. This made the win possible for the home team.

Ben Stokes was declared the man of the match for his all round performance, he has scored 193 runs and picked up 3 crucial wickets.

England won by 124 runs. The number of runs scored in this match is the highest at Lord’s.

Brief Score:

Corey Anderson- 67, Watling- 59

Broad- 3/50, Stokes- 3/38

Match Scorecard:

England 389 & 478

New Zealand 523 & 220 (67.3 over’s)

England won by 124 runs

Player of the match – Ben Stokes (England)