ESPNcricinfo
If the mantra of this England Test side, coached by Brendon McCullum and captained by Ben Stokes, is about “moving the game forward”, then the first day of the opening Test of the summer could scarcely have gone better. But after a flying start with the ball, England went back to old habits as New Zealand exposed familiar failings with the bat. Seventeen wickets went down on an apparently true Lord’s surface, and come the close it was far from clear which side was on top.
The game began in fast-forward, New Zealand sliding to 12 for 4 inside the first hour, but gradually settled on to a more even keel. James Anderson, playing the 170th match of his Test career, and Matthew Potts, in his first, shared eight wickets between them as the tourists were rounded up in two sessions following Kane Williamson’s decision to bat first; they were in dire straits at 45 for 7 only for Colin de Grandhomme to marshall to oversee some lower-order resistance.
After an encouraging opening stand of 59 between Zak Crawley and Alex Lees, England then shipped seven wickets during the evening session to bring New Zealand roaring back into the contest. Even after Kyle Jamieson produced the initial breakthroughs, they were still well placed on 92 for 2 and with thoughts beginning to turn towards consolidation. But Joe Root, in his first Test since resigning the captaincy, steered de Grandhomme to gully and England promptly lost 5 for 8 to revive memories of the grisly collapses that have disfigured their red-ball cricket over the last year.
Summarized scores: England 116 for 7(Foakes 6*; Broad 4*) trail New Zealand 132 (de Grandhomme 42*; Potts 4 for 13; Anderson 4 for 66) by 16 runs