WTC 2021-23, Eng vs NZ, 1st Test, Day 1: Bowlers shine at Lord's; Eng 116-7 in response to NZ's 132

WTC 2021-23, Eng vs NZ, 1st Test, Day 1: Matthew Potts, James Anderson, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson shine in Lord's Test; England 116-7 in response to New Zealand's 132

Matthew Potts takes 4-fer on his Test debut for England (Images ©PA Photos/Getty)

Brief Scores: New Zealand 132 (de Grandhomme 42, Potts 13/4, Anderson 66/4) lead England 116/7 (Crawley 43, Lees 25, Boult 15/2, Jamieson 20/2, Southee 40/2) by 16 runs at Stumps on Day 1

After enjoying a two-month long thrilling shortest form of cricket in the Indian Premier League (IPL), international cricket teams are heading to back to begin their assignments.

The Kiwi team is in England and kicked off the first Test of the three-match Test series on Thursday at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Stadium in London.

England are playing under a new skipper, Ben Stokes, and new Head Coach, Brendon McCullum. They gave the debut cap to Durham’s young seamer Matthew Potts. Also, they brought back their ace pair of seamers, James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who have carried the English bowling attack on their shoulders throughout the last decade.

Both sides went with a combination of three pacers, one pace-bowling all-rounder and one spinner, in their playing eleven in swing-friendly conditions at Lord’s.

New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and he trusted his batters for playing out tough batting conditions on the first day of the Lord’s Test.

Tom Latham and Will Young opened the batting for the islanders. England’s legendary pace twin of Anderson and Broad started off the proceedings.

Old-timer James Anderson blew up Kiwi openers

Anderson got swing in the first over of the day itself and his third delivery in the over beat the bat of Latham. However, Kiwi openers couldn’t find any breathing space as the English opening bowling pair continued to ask tough questions to the batters. Young couldn’t face more threatening deliveries of the pace duo and edged to Anderson on the first ball of the third over of the innings. Third slip fielder Jonny Bairstow grabbed a stunning one-handed catch inches above the ground. The 39-year-old pacer, Anderson continued to be a nightmare for batters. Next batter, Kiwi skipper Williamson came in the middle in a precarious situation for his side with the score at 1/1.

Second opener Latham also couldn’t find any answers to the swing bowling art of Anderson. Latham poked at a delivery outside the off stump, which resulted in an edge and Bairstow grabbed another stunner at the third slip after a rebound from his own hands.

Debutant Matthew Potts cleaned up Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson

Next batter Devon Conway went for a drive half-heartedly to a delivery by Broad and edged it straight to Bairstow, which made it three out of three for the fielder. Conway could make only three runs off seven deliveries.

New England skipper Stokes called up debutant seamer Matthew Potts as first change by replacing Broad. The 23-year-old seamer bagged top dog Williamson in his first over itself. The delivery bowled by Potts moved slightly away from the batter Williamson, however, the batter poked at the ball and ended up giving an easy catch to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes. Potts roared after grabbing the huge wicket as his first Test scalp.

England skipper Stokes looked happier than Potts for this big catch. Williamson could make only two runs off 22 deliveries in his brief stay on the pitch. This wicket reduced the Kiwi side to 12 for four and they required a desperate rescue act from their lower-order batters.

Matthew Potts takes 4-13 on Test debut against NZ (Images ©AFP/Getty)

Potts and Anderson reduced opponents to six down for just 37 till Lunch

NZ’s next batting pair of Tom Blundell and Daryl Mitchell tried their best to face the swing menace of England pacers, however, Mitchell dragged the ball on his stumps, while playing a delivery bowled by Potts on the backfoot. Mitchell walked out with his head down. He could make only 13 runs off 35 deliveries.

After this wicket, Blundell counter-attacked against Broad and hammered two back-to-back boundaries off the latter. Even Blundell couldn't stay much in the middle, as he made an error while leaving the ball and the ball bowled by Potts took the inside edge of his bat and crashed onto the stumps.

The southern hemisphere islanders were reduced to 37 for six without any hope of rebuilding the innings. However, the lunch break gave a short relief to Kiwi batters after intimidating 24 overs by England seamers.

Though lunch break couldn’t save Kiwi batters from the host bowlers, as Anderson sent all-rounder Kyle Jamieson back to the pavilion in the first over after the break. Explosive batter Colin de Grandhomme took the attacking route and started to smash boundaries. Also, his partner Tim Southee struck two back-to-back boundaries off pacer Anderson. At last, old-timer Anderson banged a short delivery aimed at the batter’s body and Southee swung hard at the ball and ended up giving a catch to Potts at fine leg. Southee made 26 runs off 23 deliveries in his quick knock.

England shot down islanders for 132

On the other end, Grandhomme continued to pummel boundaries and brought up the 100 for New Zealand, though the islanders lost another wicket as Potts picked the wicket of Ajaz Patel on a personal score of seven runs.

New Zealand were reduced to 102 for nine and they were only one wicket short of getting bundled out. Grandhomme and Boult continued to attack to gather as many runs as possible before getting all-out. It was only then that Stokes took the ball in his hand to dismiss Trent Boult on 13 and bundled out the opponents on a meagre total of 132.

Grandhomme remained unbeaten at the other end and made 42 runs off 50 balls.

Zak Crawley scores 43 off 56 balls in first innings of Lord's Test (Images ©Getty )

England openers Zak Crawley and Alex Lees stiched half-century partnership

England openers, Zak Crawley and Alex Lees, came to bat after watching the horrible batting display of the opponents. Experienced Kiwi pacers, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, were handed over the new ball by Kiwi skipper Williamson.

The England openers played the NZ opening pace duo cautiously in the first few overs before playing their shots. In the ninth over of the innings, Crawley pummelled two boundaries against Southee. He repeated the same feat against the same bowler immediately in the bowler’s next over. Crawley was comfortably inching close to his half-century, however, right-arm pacer Kyle Jamieson drew the edge of Crawley’s blade and wicketkeeper Tom Blundell grabbed an easy catch. Crawley made 43 runs off 56 deliveries on a pretty lively pitch for the pacers.

England lost Ollie Pope and Joe Root in quick succession

Second opener Lees opened up to strike two boundaries off Jamieson in an over. One down batter Ollie Pope didn’t trouble scorers much and got out for just seven off a threatening delivery bowled by Jamieson. Former England skipper Joe Root came in the middle and announced himself with a stylish boundary on the first ball. However, he couldn’t prolong his stay on the pitch and got out on a personal score of 11.

Medium-pacer de Grandhomme shocked Root with extra bounce, which put the batter in an awkward position and he ended up giving an easy catch to Southee.

Tim Southee takes 2-40 in first innings of Lord's Test, Day 1 (Images ©AFP/Getty)

England's middle-order fell like a pack of cards

England were in a dominant position at 92/2 before Root fell at that point. After the wicket of Root, England continued to lose wickets in quick succession to get reduced to 100/7 by losing five wickets in the space of just 28 balls.

Lower-order batting pair of Ben Foakes and Stuart Broad managed to stay alive for around three overs to finish the day for England at 116/7.

England still trail by 16 runs with only three wickets remaining.