Key events
WICKET! England 55-5 (Smith b Jamieson 1)
No. Nooo. Jamie Smith shoulders arm to a nipbacker from Kyle Jamieson that clatters into the stumps. Jamieson is 6ft 8ins so maybe Smith thought it was a safe leave on length; he was wrong.
19th over: England 55-4 (Brook 20, Smith 1) Four more to Brook, pulled handsomely behind square off O’Rourke – a shot that is easier typed than done. Brook’s burgeoning counter-attack, 20 from 29 balls, has already changed the mood a touch.
18th over: England 51-4 (Brook 16, Smith 1) A short ball from Smith is pulled devastatingly for four by Brook. Smith responds with a fuller nipbacker that goes through the gate to hit the pad. New Zealand go up for LBW but, though it looks fairly close, there are doubts over both height and line and Brook survives.
17th over: England 44-4 (Brook 9, Smith 1) Brook plays another high-class square drive for four, this time off O’Rourke – but then he’s dropped by Conway! Brook sliced a flamboyant kind of cut/drive that flew towards backward point and burst through the hands of Conway.
New Zealand dropped Brook a gazillion times in that 2024-25 series, and he punished them royally with a couple of matchwinning hundreds.
16th over: England 38-4 (Brook 4, Smith 0) Brook pushes nervously at a big outswinger from Smith and is beaten. He needs to laser one over extra-cover for six, or at least die trying, because right now England are sitting ducks.
Brook settles for a less extravagant square drive to the boundary. That’s an excellent shot.
“My only quibble about your description of Will O’Rourke is that he might be the world’s best already, certainly on a pitch offering a bit, as this one is,” says Gary Naylor. “Just because he looks like a choirboy doesn’t mean he can’t be a nasty-fasty, with a bit of movement and a lot of control. It’s a different game above 87mph, especially from that height.”
WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE JASPRIT BUMRAH? (I know what you mean, though, especially on a pitch like this. And O’Rourke is a greater physical threat, which counts for something.)
15th over: England 34-4 (Brook 0, Smith 0) Helluva time for Jamie Smith to start his new career as England’s Test No6.
I’m getting the shivers at the thought of how good O’Rourke could be; how good he already is. He was born in Kingston-upon-Thames, by the way – his parents moved back to New Zealand when he was four or five.
WICKET! England 34-4 (Root c Blundell b O’Rourke 1)
Too good. WIll O’Rourke is just too good for the greatest batter in English cricket history. Root was undone by a snorting, seaming lifter that shaved the outside edge and was taken by Blundell.
Don’t sigh, don’t shout FFS. England haven’t done much wrong today – they are being taken apart by a sensational seam attack. Sure, Root was starting to open the face but it was an absolute jaffa. Short of square-legging it like a No11, he was always going to edge that delivery once his instinct told him to play at it.
14th over: England 34-3 (Root 1, Brook 0) Brook either defends or leaves the remainder of a challenigng over from Smith. Nobody wants to hear it, but this is exactly the situation in which Brook’s best approach is to tee off – as he did so brilliantly in New Zealand 18 months ago and against India at the Oval last summer. It’s much harder to do that after spending five months on the naughty step, so the next half hour will be a fascinating insight into the mind of Harry Cherrington Brook.
Brook is not out! Big inside-edge onto the pad, next!
New Zealand review for LBW against Brook! This looks close to me, maybe umpire’s call on line. England are under so much pressure from a forensic New Zealand attack.
13th over: England 33-3 (Root 0, Brook 0) O’Rourke greets Brook with a sharp bumper. Brook avoids that but is hit in the stomach (I think) by a nasty nipbacker. This guy O’Rourke is sensational – he looks violently unpleasant to face, with angles and lift that evoke the best of Steve Harmison.
WICKET! England 33-3 (Bethell LBW b O’Rourke 6)
Jacob Bethell 0-1 Will O’Rourke. It was a superb delivery from O’Rourke, much fuller than usual and angling back to hit the pad as Bethell missed an attempted drive. The ball deflected to slip, which brought the catch into play had Bethell inside-edged the ball onto the pad.
He had not – but he was plumb LBW and England are in the malodorous stuff. That was a slightly loose stroke from Bethell.
New Zealand review for LBW/a catch against Bethell!
One way or another, I think this is out.
A cracking read, this, from Wisden’s Jo Harman-McGowan on English cricket’s answer to Brexit
12th over: England 31-2 (Bethell 4, Root 0) This New Zealand attack were always likely to give England a serious test in these conditions. Both openers were got out, rather than giving their wickets away, and if anything England haven’t gone hard enough.
There were three reds on the Duckett dismissal, no umpire’s call, so he was correct not to review. Smith gets some lavish outswing to the new batter Joe Root, who defends watchfully.
WICKET! England 31-2 (Duckett LBW b Smith 19)
Nathan Smith strikes with his third ball of the match! Duckett, who struck the previous delivery for four, was caught in front by a length ball from around the wicket that nipped back sharply to hit both pads.
I thought Duckett would review – there was a bit of doubt over height – but after a discussion with Bethell he decided to walk off.
11th over: England 27-1 (Duckett 15, Bethell 4) O’Rourke is on for Matt Henry, who suffered a back spasm in the first session and is off the field. That’s a concern for New Zealand, though at least they have four specialist seamers in their team.
O’Rourke’s first ball is a jaffa, just back of a length and seaming past Duckett’s outside edge. When he overpitches later in the over, Duckett times a classy push-drive through extra cover for three. Bethell sees our the rest of the over.
Will O’Rourke is going to start after lunch. If you haven’t seen him before, you’re in for a treat over the next month – he has the potential to be world No1.
Hello one and all, Rob here. There’s good news and bad news. The bad news, for you, is that Tim is having laptop problems so I’m taking over. The good news, for you and me, is that Jacob Bethell will be batting in a couple of minutes. We might even see him up against Will O’Rourke for the first time* since their immense contest at Hamilton on 17 December 2024.
* I think
Resuming at 1.45!
That said, the covers are off and the sun is out. Play will resume at 1.45pm, in about 15 minutes… if the rain doesn’t return.
Latest from a few miles south-west of Lord’s. “A while earlier,” says Neil Parkes, “when Bethell and Duckett where ducking and… bething (?), it was blowing a gale with horizontal rain here in Ealing and I was amazed they were out there. Now it’s bright sun here. No wait, it’s clouding over. No it’s sun again. No wait… err.”
Inspection at 1.30
Sure enough, things are not looking so good.
Not wanting to put a dampener on things, but I’ve just had a glance at the forecast. The chance of rain at Lord’s from 1 to 2pm, according to the Met Office, is greater than 95 per cent. And it doesn’t get much better in the hours after that: 80pc, 80pc, 70pc, 50pc… The best bet is 6-7pm, when it’s 30pc.
Lunch now, restart at 1.25 (all being well)
“Slightly better news,” says Ian Ward on Sky. “There’s going to be a restart at 1.25pm if there’s no further rain…. The teams are having an early lunch.”
Mid-rain reading
Jonathan Liew has a question for us.
Good news for people overseas wanting to track down TMS on YouTube. “This,” says Ben Mimmack, “is the link. For home Tests, the BBC usually includes it on their match updates page (other, arguably superior, over-by-over update pages are available).” Ha, thanks.
“Kia ora, Tim, from a dismal evening in Rotorua, Aotearoa,” says Graeme Simpson. “A lovely tribute to Martin Crowe. Back in 1992, I directed Crowe on Crowe, a dialogue between Marty and his brother, Jeff.
“This was during the final of the Cricket World Cup in NZ and Australia. At lunch in the NZ v Pakistan semi-final at Eden Park, the Black Caps were in good shape with a possible final at the MCG. Instead, they were blitzed. My crew were on the park as the team did a final lap of honour. Grown men in tears. Marty as staunch as ever… a final wave to the crowd, freeze frame, fade out on Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits.”
Back to the weather. “Here in central London,” says Rob Grey, “the water is coming horizontally into my work canteen through an open door. Bad omen.
“Can’t help but feel the first and third innings will be the ones affected most, looking at the forecast. Ah well, we are due another loss.”
“Welcome back,” says Robert Lewis, “and long may you fill our computers and phones with your words of wisdom.” Thanks… or are you just softening me up?
“On your Preamble and heads rolling after last winter, I have just two words: Oliver Pope?”
Point partly taken! Pope’s head did roll, but in the middle of the Ashes, not afterwards, so that was why I concentrated on Crawley. Personally I feel a bit sorry for both of them. Crawley’s average, which has been much talked about, was good enough in home Tests – 37. (He was awful against Matt Henry, though.) Pope was prematurely promoted to vice-captain, did all right when standing in for Ben Stokes, and then lost the job to Harry Brook, who has also been given it too early.
Brook had never given captaincy much thought and although he can be good on the field, it shows every time he speaks to the media. Meanwhile England have a one-day captain in waiting, who would bring far more experience both as a captain and as a white-ball player: Sam Curran.
“Isn’t it great to have Test cricket back after all that IPL nonsense?” says Richard O’Hagan. Let’s assume that is a rhetorical question.
“Lovely that they are honouring Martin Crowe. The NZ social media team have been showing the new portrait of him in the Long Room. It’s incredible, like he is there with you.”
“Sorry to start the series in such a negative mood,” says Ian Batch, “but very disappointed with the England selection. What has Bashir done to be included? Why not blood a raw Baker instead of going back to Robinson? What does Rehan Ahmed need to do to get picked when he’s miles better as a cricketer than Bashir will ever be? Was the ‘we’ll look at county cricket’ just a PR line?
“Maybe I’m still suffering from a bad Ashes hangover, but I just can’t fathom how Baz is still in a job and to be honest, Duckett, Stokes and even Smith with the gloves are all fortunate to be in the XI.”
Are you sure about Stokes? He may have tailed off with the bat, but his bowling in Australia was excellent. All-rounders often go from bowlers who can bat to batters who bowl a bit, if at all, but Stokes has gone the other way.
“I’m in Portugal,” says Tim Stappard. “Can I get any radio coverage on YouTube etc? Boring question I know for you. Cheers if you can help.” I can’t, sorry, but I suspect the OBO knows someone who can.
A good spot from Mark Puttick, in fact two. “This is the first England men’s Lord’s Test since May 2007 v West Indies not to feature one of Anderson, Broad, and Woakes.” That was so long ago, the prime minister was Tony Blair.
“New Zealand are also Emilio Gay’s fourth international opponents. He played T20s for Italy against Guernsey, Scotland, and the Netherlands.”
This is bad news for the crowd but good news for our mailbag. The first email I open comes from John Starbuck. “The OBO no more?” he splutters. “It’s always a good feeling to have the OBO going again but what’s happened to its name. Has the Guardian’s style change removed it? If so, we really ought to have a debate about this.”
I couldn’t possibly comment.
Rain stops play!
Here we go. A sharp shower sends the players running for the Long Room.
10th over: England 24-1 (Duckett 12, Bethell 4) Jamieson continues and has an appeal for caught behind against Duckett, not given. Bethell plays a nice shot for two, coolly steered past gully.
“Nice to see Brendon McCullum finally back in England,” says Ken Andrew, “after a big chunk of the season has already been played. I wonder if he’s had a chance to get acquainted with his new opening batsman yet …”
Ha, fair point – the ECB should have said when they gave him the white-ball job as well, as the Test one, you can’t do this from the other side of the world. But to be fair to Baz too, he’s getting to know Gay now, sitting on the balcony with him.
9th over: England 21-1 (Duckett 11, Bethell 2) Tom Latham makes his first bowling change, replacing Henry with Nathan Smith, who is shorter and skiddier. He doesn’t need a loosener, jagging his first ball past Bethell’s defensive prod. After that there are five more dots. “Very good first over from Smith,” says Mike Atherton.
8th over: England 21-1 (Duckett 11, Bethell 2) Duckett seems keener than usual to get forward and he needs to be on a slow pitch. When he drives Jamieson through the covers, he gets only two for it. But then Jamieson surprises him with some bounce and he has to take a blow to the glove. At the end of the over he has a conference with Bethell. It’s odd to see Duckett with no Crawley, Little Without Large.
7th over: England 19-1 (Duckett 9, Bethell 2) Just a single from Henry’s fourth over. Nasser said there was a drop of rain a moment ago, but now the sun has come out. The British weather is like the British electorate: more capricious than it used to be.
6th over: England 18-1 (Duckett 8, Bethell 2) It wasn’t just a good ball: Daryl Mitchell took a good catch, down by his ankles at first slip. So Gay has to go and here’s another young left-hander, Jacob Bethell, whose last Test innings was his first Test hundred at Sydney, in fact his first in first-class cricket. He’s strong on the back foot and shows it immediately with a cut for two.
WICKET! Gay c Mitchell b Jamieson 8 (England 16-1)
Ah what a shame for Emilio Gay… but it does take a good ball to get rid of him. Jamieson finds the line, the length, the lift and the edge.
5th over: England 15-0 (Duckett 7, Gay 8) England get their first runs that actually involve some running as Duckett tucks Henry off his hip for two. Then the openers change ends for the first time as Duckett repeats the shot to a ball that swings in late. The skies are still a darker shade of grey.
Photograph: James Marsh/Shutterstock
4th over: England 12-0 (Duckett 4, Gay 8) England are getting ’em in boundaries. Gay gets a full ball from Jamieson and on-drives for four, holding the pose. “Nothing wrong with that,” says Nasser Hussain. “It means you’re in a good technical position.” The next ball beats Gay outside off and for a moment Tom Blundell thinks there’s a thin edge. Then he tries his first cut and doesn’t middle it at all. Nasser blames the pitch: “the bounce on the first morning is non-existent.” The over ends with a stifled appeal for LBW. Jamieson is finding his radar.
3rd over: England 8-0 (Duckett 4, Gay 4) Duckett, facing Henry again, finally finds the middle of the bat. He drives the first ball to mid-off and the second to the boundary at extra-cover, with conviction.
2nd over: England 4-0 (Duckett 0, Gay 4) Jamieson manages to land the other five balls and find some swing, but his line and length are all over the place. There’s one decent ball, drawing a leading edge from Gay which never looks like carrying to the cordon.
2nd over, first ball: England 4-0 (Duckett 0, Gay 4) It’s Kyle Jamieson and he has a present for Emilio Gay: a full toss! Gay guides it away behind square and smiles like a man who wasn’t expecting that.
1st over: England 0-0 (Duckett 0, Gay 0) The bowler is Matt Henry, the first ball a damp squib – a grubber outside off. Duckett leaves it, and the next one, which at least reaches the keeper aboce his ankles. Duckett does play at the third ball, and misses! He leaves the fourth and nudges the fifth and sixth. That may be the most sedate over of Duckett’s career.
The bell is rung by Emma Crowe, daughter of Martin, another fine player who didn’t live all that long. The series is being played for the Crowe-Thorpe Trophy. The anthems are sung. The England players head off with a few squeezes of the hand for Emilio Gay. The New Zealanders gather in a huddle. The openers, Gay and Ben Duckett, half-run to the middle.
The teams come out – both teams, in full, to take their places in one long, elegant line. Emilio Gay leans his bat against an ad hoarding and chews his gum. There’s a minute’s silence, the announcer says, “as we remember some of the greats of our game”. The faces on the scoreboard include Robin Smith and Hugh Morris, both gone too soon, and the equally well-loved MJK Smith.
The second email of the day comes from inside the ground. “Morning Tim,” says Nick Parish. “It’s been a long and winding road to me first seeing a Test match at Lord’s. In 2022 I had tickets for the fourth day against South Africa and England lost in 3 days. In 2024 I had tickets for the fourth day against West Indies – I guess that was marginally better, because at least that time England won in 3 days.
“Learning from my mistakes, this year I have gone for the first day, only to face a tube strike and an apocalyptic weather forecast only a week after it was 33C. However I’m here, with a smile and the requisite two tinnies, and very much looking forward to it all. However much ‘it all’ is.”
Hoping you have a ball. Or even 540 balls.
Teams in full
England 1 Ben Duckett, 2 Emilio Gay, 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jamie Smith (wkt), 7 Ben Stokes (capt), 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Ollie Robinson, 10 Josh Tongue, 11 Shoaib Bashir.
New Zealand 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Dary Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wkt), 7 Glenn Phillips, 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Nathan Smith, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Will O’Rourke.
Teams in brief
New Zealand have opted for the extra seamer, so the promising Nathan Smith squeezes out the venerable Mitch Santner. England have taken the opposite tack, preferring Shoaib Bashir’s mercurial off-breaks to Sonny Baker’s untried pace. The toss makes both decisions look better, as the team bowling last (England) will be the one with the specialist spinner.
Toss: NZ put England in
The toss has taken place! Tom Latham wins it and says he’ll have a bowl, as most captains would under these leaden skies. That makes it an even bigger moment for Emilio Gay, who has just been presented with his England cap by Alastair Cook. They both went to the same school, Bedford. Are they also members of the same school of batsmanship? We’ll soon see.
The first email of the day comes from Tim Harnedy. “Oh my God the radar,” it begins. “Looking at the deluge making its way up the M4 towards London, I’m not sure how much use it is asking for help finding a way listening to Test Match Special over here in Ireland, but any hints gratefully accepted.
“Ireland didn’t provide a particularly stern test for New Zealand in the match at Belfast, but the weather was better. Maybe England should visit for a match sometime?”
They certainly should.
Preamble
Morning everyone and welcome to the first Test of the English summer. Ashes, what Ashes? There’s a lot to look forward to here.
It’s the 150th Test at Lord’s, the first ground to reach that milestone. The next one looks like being Melbourne, some time in the 2040s, so here is one facet of cricket where England still rules the world.
It’s a reboot for our old friend Bazball, which is now going to be “slightly smarter” (according to Baz McCullum) or “a lot smarter” (according to Ben Stokes). As in Australia, these two seem to be singing from half of the same hymn sheet.
It’s a big moment for Emilio Gay, who will make his debut for England and open the batting in place of Zak Crawley, the only head to roll after a sobering winter. It may be an even bigger moment for Ollie Robinson, the prodigal seamer, as he walks into the last-chance saloon.
It’s the biggest series for New Zealand since they last faced England in December 2024. They’ve played only six Tests since, but they’ve brought a strong squad, stuffed with seasoned batters and talented bowlers. Their last big series away from home went quite well: they beat India 3-0.
It’s all set to be a great occasion. But have you seen the weather forecast? Bad for today, even worse for Saturday, bad again for Monday. If a bit of water could just be allowed to seep through the covers, it might be the only hope of a result.
The toss is at 10.30am (BST), at least in theory.