Robinson delivers a hammer blow to the Black Caps on a humiliating Lord's pitch

ICC World Test Championship

A historic occasion for The Lord's cricket ground as it became the first cricket ground to host 150 Test matches was marked with a 115 run win for the England team against New Zealand. The newish English side led by the same old pair of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum dominated most of the game and completed a one-sided victory thanks to the returning Ollie Robinson and debutant Opener Emilio Gay. New Zealand, who are undergoing a transition in their bowling department unleashed a very strong first-choice bowling attack after a long injury-sustained period in red-ball cricket but their excellent performance was overshadowed by a meek surrender from the batters in both innings. The pitch offered at the Home of cricket on such a memorable juncture has come under serious criticism from different fractions due to it's uneven nature and inconsistent bounce right from the first ball.

Pacers unleash chaos as spinners remain unused

The fast-bowlers from both sides enjoyed bowling on a nightmarish surface for the batters taking all the 40 wickets that fell in four days making this match the shortest ever at Lord's since 1888. Of the 966 deliveries bowled in the match, not a single one was delivered by a spinner. Kiwi captain Tom Latham won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first under overcast conditions backing his pace quartet to make early inroads. Both sides selected a four pace attack partnered by a spinner after assessing the nature of the wicket offered.

For the hosts, openers Ben Duckett and Emilio Gay could not last long as the returning Kyle Jamieson who was wayward in his first over forced Gay to edge one straight into the hands of Daryl Mitchell at first slip. The English batters could not survive on a pitch tailor-made for pacers as only vice-captain Harry Brook, who was dropped twice scored 56 but no other batter made an impression before being dismissed for a score of 140. Kyle Jamieson who playing his first Test since Feb 2024, took 5-62.

But New Zealand was not ready for what was to come. Another comeback man, Ollie Robinson wrote a fairytale in his first over bowling a three-wicket maiden as he removed Devon Conway, Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra leaving the Black Caps reeling at 2-3. 16 wickets fell on the first Day which was affected by a few rain interruptions. New Zealand never recovered from that early shock getting all out for 113 inside 30 overs with Ollie taking 5-39.

 

K Jamieson, O Robinson, N Smith and G Atkinson all made an appearance on the Lord's Honours Board

New Zealand's most experienced pacer Matt Henry suffered back spasm in the first innings and although he did return late in the second innings, the English top-order feasted on a rare spell of loose bowling setting up a base for an excellent total of 226 on this pitch. Debutant Nathan Smith produced a second successive fifer with figures of 6-70. Gay scored his maiden half-century using soft hands and picking his gaps easily after being afforded a couple of chances carrying his good start to the season into International cricket. This was the only other fifty-plus score in this match after Brook's 56 as the two fresh faces put England in the driver's seat with a target of 254. Another 17 wickets fell on Day 2 if the game. 

The visitors resumed their innings on Day 3 with the score at 36-3. A frustrating day featuring at least four rain breaks saw play for only 58 balls but the visitors lost two crucial wickets of Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell to Ollie Robinson's mastery. With cloudy skies surrounding the whole Test match, New Zealand came out to bat with a huge task on Day 4 but succumbed to a meagre 138 in 40.3 overs as the game was over before Lunch. Devon Conway showed character with a fighting 41 and Glenn Phillips counter-attacked with a 44* but Gus Atkinson's became the fourth bowler to take a five wicket-haul proving too hot to handle for New Zealand's lower order. Stokes started his second term with a convincing victory going into the second Test at The Oval. 

Batters fall prey to incoming deliveries

Out of the 40 wickets that fell in this match, a staggering 24 of them were either bowled or lbw, most for a Test match in England ever. The plan was simple, hit the good length and target the stumps. On a pitch with a huge degree of variable bounce, the batters were hardly able to adjust themselves. All the eight fast bowlers playing in this match were right-handed. England fielded four and their opponents named three left-handed batters on the team sheet. Bowlers used round-the-stumps angle perfectly with the ball jagging in to claim 8 of the 14 left-handed dismissals with the incoming delivery.

Jamieson surprised Emilio with extra bounce in the sixth over of the match causing a edge to first slip post which both Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell fell lbw to good length balls hitting the middle of the stumps. Even the right-handers struggled to deal with the in-swingers thanks to the extra zip provided by the wicket as the bowlers kept the stumps in play throughout the match. A few brain-fade triggered dismissals also added to this trend. Jamie Smith in the first innings was followed by Daryl Mitchell and Nathan Smith offering no shot to in-dippers from good length each hitting the off-stump with acute precision.

Josh Tongue was the only bowler who relied more on his outswingers but never left the stumps to get both Blundell and Phillips bowled with a peach beating the outside edge and hitting the off stump. The batters from both sides were tormented by the fast bowlers but you cannot blame them on a pitch like this where you can never feel confident even after batting for long. England's newest opener, Emilio Gay will take massive self-belief from this match after batting for 109 balls, the most any batter faced in the first Test.

New Zealand endure punishment for costly mistakes

The Black Caps have made a trip to England for the first time in four years after 2022 when they lost 3-0 on slightly better batting wickets under the newly emerging Bazball team. The last tenure of Ben Stokes leadership ended on a disastrous climax with a 4-1 loss in Australia. The Kiwis arrived to face a more vigilant home team with a few changes in personnel this time. The visitors themselves are filled with experience and carrying an injury-free squad after a long time.

The playing surface laid out in the first Test was no less than a nightmare for the batters. Both sides knew that it will require a small period of indiscipline from the bowlers to hand the batting team advantage in the remaining match. When Matt Henry suffered a back spasm in the middle of England's first innings, the other three bowlers combined to complete the ten wickets cheaply. However, the absence of Henry with the new ball hurt them badly in the second innings. Nathan Smith could not provide the same amount of control as Henry and after seeing off the new ball, both Duckett and Gay pounced on every loose ball bowled by change-up bowlers O'Rourke and Henry (who came back later in the second innings) to score plenty of boundaries. 

New Zealand lost the plot for a few overs in the middle allowing the openers to put on the first fifty-plus partnership of the game. A missed review and catch drops of both Gay and Bethell put more pressure on captain Latham. There was a brief comeback when the visitors took 4 wickets in a space of 2 overs but Jamie Smith counter-attacked in company of both Atkinson and Robinson to push the score above 200. Nathan Smith etched his name on the Honours Board with 6-70 but the damage was done at the start of the innings. A target of 254 was always out of reach against the home side bowling attack.

Jamieson and Robinson come back like they never left

The first Test between both sides was headlined by fast bowlers on each side making their comeback after ages. Kyle Jamieson, whose career has been plagued by injuries was playing his first Test since Feb 2024. The 6 ft 8 inch pacer started erratically with his first set of six balls but hit the right lengths immediately as he induced extra bounce to trouble Gay and get his edging to slip. His unerring accuracy earned Jamieson a sixth five-wicket haul in Tests and now possesses a bowling average of 19.55 in 20 Tests. Jamieson's contribution did not end there. In a modest total of 113, he was the highest scorer with 38* off 29 balls scoring important boundaries to bump the team's score into three-figures.

Kyle Jamieson and Ollie Robinson were playing their first Test match since Feb 2024

Writing his own incredible home-coming on the other side was the 32-year old Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson. Playing his first International match in more than 27 months, Robinson put in a Player-of-the-Match performance with both ball and bat. The reason's behind his exclusion from the national side were different than just injury-enforced absence. Robinson who is a similar bowler to Jamieson with his line-and-length control, has struggled with attitude related issues throughout his playing career due to his loose temperament. He also saw a huge dip in speed due to poor fitness as his bowling speed dipped below 70 mph in his last Test against India at Ranchi. Many considered that his International career was almost over until a sudden turn of fortunes including coach McCullum's switch in tactics after the Ashes combines with an excellent start to the domestic season saw a well-earned call-up before the start of this series.

Robinson scripted history becoming the seventh bowler in Tests to take three wickets in his first over. He trapped Conway and Ravindra caught in front with round-the-stumps angle and bowled a beautiful inswinger to Williamson with a short leg trap that resulted in a catch to debutant Gay off the inside edge. Robinson refused to wander way from the wicket-to-wicket line in the 24 overs he bowled across both innings. Daryl Mitchell left a straight delivery to get bowled in the first innings and was trapped in front of the wicket after the wicket-keeper came up to the wicket in the second. Rachin Ravindra was also bamboozled with a ball staying low and moving away in the second innings adding to Robinson's match figures of 7-77.

 

Just like his counterpart Jamieson, Ollie scored a quick-fire 29 off 30 from No. 9 position giving his side a psychological advantage by propelling the target over 250. His teammate Gus Atkinson's continued his love affair with the Lord's cricket ground. Gus has now taken 26 wickets in 3 matches at a bowling average of 9.5 including four fifers after his 5-30 in the last innings of this match. With the bat, he already has a century against Sri Lanka featuring on both the batting and bowling Honours board, a feat achieved by only 11 players in the whole world.

Was this pitch fit for Test cricket?

There is no debate about the playing surface which was served at the Home of Cricket in the first Test of this series. There has been an ongoing criticism of the recent pitches at this ground for some time. Ex-English cricketers and pundits Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan slammed the curators saying that "batting was almost impossible with the quality of bowlers" and "they felt sorry for the batters" with a wicket falling almost every 25 balls in this match.

The very first ball of this fixture from Matt Henry bounced twice on it's way to the wicket-keeper after pitching on good length. Jamieson's delivery spat off the pitch forcing Gay to edge it to first slip. Few balls fell way short of slips which were standing quite close to the batter even when the shot was played with hard hands. Jacob Bethell got a filthy delivery in the second innings which did not bounce at all similar to what Jamie Smith also faced in the same innings. Robinson bottom edged one to the keeper from a good length and Ravindra could not gauge the bounce with his off-stump knocked over by Robinson in the second innings.

MCC has already admitted and apologized recognizing the poor quality of the playing surface on a history-making event citing unusual weather in May which saw a heat wave followed by wetter conditions not presenting them with ideal conditions to prepare the pitch. Captain Ben Stokes also lashed out at the "extreme conditions" expressing his concern on the longevity of Test format if similar wickets continue to be in place. How the ICC will view this match is another interesting angle? Let's see if the MCC are able to turn things around before the Pakistan match on 27 August and improve the quality going forward.

References: Statsguru by ESPNCricinfo