England vs New Zealand, 1st Test, New Zealand tour of England, 2026 - CommentaryENG vs NZ, 1st Test, New Zealand tour of England, 2026 - Commentary

England have started well in the Test summer a few months after being thrashed in the Ashes. They faced a lot of scrutiny after their performances Down Under, but the ECB decided to give the Stokes-McCullum combo a longer rope. This win will definitely serve as a boost. Some good signs for them going ahead in the returning Ollie Robinson and the performance of debutant Emilio Gay. But New Zealand don't really need to look into this defeat too much. The pitch was a lottery and they just weren't sharp enough on the field. As many as 24 dismissals that were bowled or LBW with the ball staying low frequently. It will be very different next week at the Oval. Do join us for it. For now, this is Sagar Chawla signing off on behalf of Vinod, Krishna AS, Abhinav Guha and Raju Peethala.

McCullum (3/3): Well, firstly, that was my fault, going to speak to him (Jamie Smith) to stand up to the stumps, but the communication around that probably should have just been a little bit sharper, but we got there in the end and Robbo was fine with it once we explained it and the rationale for it. And obviously, the fuller length was able to have slightly more variable bounce to bring the keeper up. I mean, the batter had to come back into his crease, but Jamie Smith, I thought he was outstanding. The work that he's done leading into this test match with Sarah Taylor, who's been brilliant coming into our setup and opening Jamie's eyes to some of the stuff which can sort of be worked on and needs to be implemented based on conditions, has been outstanding. So I thought he was, he was brilliant with the gloves. He was also engaged tactically, and he's never going to be the most vivacious character per se, but he's a good leader, very strong tactical brain, and in his own way, he's still very much the drummer in the band being the wicketkeeper. So I thought he had a great week and his innings with the bat was vitally important as well.

McCullum (2/3): Well, firstly out in the middle, I think he's (Gay) come from county cricket where he's banged the runs out. He's a run scorer, that's what he is, and he does it in his own way. The key for us was just in reinforcing that you don't have to do anything different to be a part of this team. You come up here and you do what you want to do. You play the style that you want to play, and that will give you the greatest opportunity. And I think the language around that was really consistent, and he was really comfortable when he was clear when he got to the start line and was ready for that first ball. Clearly he's got a very well-rounded game, good defensive game. He's able to score around the clock as well. I thought it was that 50-odd that he got in the second innings was worth a lot more than that in normal game context. And in terms of what he's like around the group, he's fitted in really well. Yeah, I actually listened to some of his media stuff too. I thought he spoke brilliantly and really calm and poised and respectful. And I thought you could almost sense the enthusiasm and the excitement that came through in his voice as well. And he keeps things really simple, but he's fitted into the dressing room really well. And I'm sure he's got many more Test 50s to make. We reconfirmed how good a bowler he is at this level (Robinson). Relentless accuracy particularly on this surface and the length that he's operating, he moves the ball so late, and yes, this was a surface where you didn't necessarily need the air speed per se, and his skills were definitely going to be successful... He was tremendously nervous into the first innings with the ball. He said he felt more nervous than he did on his debut even. I think he was able to handle that. He was able to feel the fear and do it anyway, so to speak, and he went out there and he competed straight away and got in the contest. And we've seen that he is a competitor. Broady will know that. He's a very good tactician, but he can also get in the fight and compete. And I thought he did a great job with the other bowlers too, in terms of being able to share some of the plans and keep guys on task. I thought it was a wonderful comeback from him and not easy when you've been out of the team for a couple of years, but he's fitted back in nicely.

McCullum (1/3): Well, first of all, it's nice to win. Nice little change. In a game which was on fast forward, to be able to hold our poise and execute our plans when we needed to and show some smarts when we were required as well. And withstand some pressure. I think we're 110 for 8. You don't win too many test matches from that in the first innings. But there was lots to be really pleased with. Obviously, the conditions were different to what we probably expected - both teams. But they are what they are. You've got to find ways to be able to adapt and to be able to perform on them. And I thought our boys did a great job. Yeah, I think we need to be quite malleable depending on the surfaces that we get, right? I think nothing needs to be so binary to play one certain way. We need to be able to be adaptable and to adjust when required. I thought conversations that our boys had throughout the test match was, well, from a coach's point of view, were fantastic. There was a real communication unfolding. And I think that allowed us to be slightly more adaptable when we needed. Clearly, the issue on that pitch was going to be the full and straight balls here. Defensively, we talked about straightening up your defensive clock to be able to make sure we're respecting the ball straight, but anything that had width, we were trying to throw our hands at and knowing that it was going to be a low-scoring game, so you still need to keep ticking over the scoreboard. I thought the guys were really brave in parts. When I say brave, I don't mean running down the wicket and swinging brave. There'd be times where that is required, but I mean brave as in, this is a tricky surface. How do we change, how are we able to manipulate our guard or change where we stand on the crease? Do we come out of the crease, back in the crease? Do we stand on leg stump, off stump? Just to try and give the bowler something different to look at because clearly it was weighted in the bowler's favor. There was some bravery with that. To me, the communication was the best that we've seen for a while and I was really proud of that. We have to see what The Oval gives us and try and come up with what we think is going to be the best style of batting. I think you don't live in your failures on this wicket per se. I think you've just got to have the ability to be able to move on pretty quickly and start plotting and planning your way towards what's going to be successful at the Oval. For now, though, let this one just land a little bit. The temperature's been a bit hotter of late, so it's nice to get one in the column and the boys will certainly enjoy it.

England coach Brendon McCullum had a long chat with the host broadcaster following the win. Here's the full transcript above.

Stokes (2/2): (Word about Emilio Gay's knock on this surface) I said to him, that's the toughest, that's at the top end of Test cricket and the conditions that he had to go out, the pressure that he went out with there in the third innings, obviously it was such a low-scoring game. So that 50 runs he got at the top there was, monumental in terms of us getting to a lead and we were very sort of comfortable with that we could secure the victory. But yeah, that's a tough introduction to Test cricket and I think it's going to do him well. But obviously, we'd like to see, more runs. You always do as a batter but yeah, that was a massive contribution from Emilio on debut. (Talks about Robinson) Oh, look, the skill that Ollie possesses has never been questioned, but I think that was very evident to see this week. Relentless in his line and his length and his unbelievable ability to sort of never look like he's going to miss where he wants the ball and he's been, what an introduction back into the team for him, obviously. I heard him speak there. It's been an emotional week for him. But the attitude that we all know that Ollie has is incredibly competitive. Once he gets over that white line, he's a different person, that's what we want to see going forward from Ollie. But he's a phenomenal bowler. He led the attack brilliantly well this week and of course, again, it's just mystical laws, isn't it? It just lumbers the place. So, look, as a bowling unit, we were great. You know, I just sort of chipped in at the back end every now and again. (Asked about his batting position and form) Ah, look, we just wanted the first game in the test match this summer, uh, others, so that's where I'm concentrating everything at the moment.

Ben Stokes | England captain: (Good start to the summer) Yeah, good result. I thought, coming in after a long time, you know, a lot of things happening away from the field, to come up and turn up and put in the performance that we did here in, you know, test cricket is tough, it's hard, you're never sure what you're going to get consensus in terms of conditions or whatever it may be and I thought the way that we identified the conditions that was, in front of us this week and identified the way that we thought we needed to go about it, we did that very quickly and I think that's a huge contribution as to why we've come out with a win this week. (You're used to these conditions, would you try anything different?) Well, I think it was just cricket, conversations this week were very quick to happen. when you've got a lot of people in the dressing room, there can be a lot of ideas and stuff floating around, but I think we all voiced them pretty well and then that's where you get to a situation where you can go out there and you're very clear as a team and look, it was, it was a wicket that presented challenges in the batting unit, but also I sometimes feel as a bowling unit in terms of challenges there, where you just sort of, you feel like you have to leave the game. We knew what we needed to do, we were very clear about our plan for New Zealand batsmen this week and we executed it probably as well as I've seen an England bowling group do that since I've been captain. So tough conditions, with both, particularly with the bat, but you know, we've got to come up against another quality team New Zealand this week who employ different conditions as well at times. But yeah, we were very good this week at doing that.

Latham (2/2): (Talks about the conditions) It's probably more the up and down nature of the surface, I think. as it been, you're used to the ball, moving sideways and being able to adjust or play the line, but I think when it goes up and down, not necessarily having trust in the surface, it does make things hard and sort of gets you caught on the crease and I guess you look at a lot of the dismissals throughout the whole test match, bowled, LBW's, and ball behinds as probably more a case of guys being caught on the crease. And as I said, there are two quality bowling attacks that exploited the conditions really well and unfortunately, we weren't able to win those key moments. (Did you think of a different approach in the 2nd innings?) I guess they were some of the conversations that have been had today and I just, hindsight's a wonderful thing and yeah, I guess you always look at ways that you could have maybe done things better. I think the way GP came out and played today, it was positive, when he got a ball in the series and he managed to score. I guess that's all the things that you can look at and I guess hindsight, yeah, we maybe could have done that and things maybe could have been different. But, to see them understand the ball was still doing the same things. Obviously not ideal from our point of view, but as I said, it's one that we trust in ourselves and we take that into next week. (Showing capability of taking 20 wickets) Yeah, absolutely. I think, as I said, the preparation that we've had over the last couple of weeks has been exactly what we want and from a bowling point of view to see the likes of Kyle Jamieson and William ORourke back from long-term injuries is great to see and obviously we're building nicely with Nathan Smith, who's come on leaps and bounds over the last sort of 12 months. Obviously we've got the experience of Matt Henry too. So yeah, from a bowling point of view, I thought we did a fantastic job to, I guess, to keep hanging in there and hopefully we can keep getting better from here.

Tom Latham | NZ captain: I thought the way we set the tone with the new ball on day one was outstanding, I think. You look at the test match as a whole, you know, from a bowling point of view, there were some extremely talented bowlers on show and they managed to exploit the conditions pretty well and I guess throughout the whole test match we had our opportunities, but, we weren't able to capitalise on them. (Capitalizing on the first innings) I guess from our first innings, I guess to be in the position we were, we weren't necessarily able to dig through that tricky phase on day one. But, again we still had our opportunities throughout their second innings as well and whether it be 200 or something like that, we just weren't able to form partnerships from a batting point of view and we obviously know the surface wasn't easy. It was certainly challenging from the bowler's point of view. As I said, they managed to hit some areas for long periods of time and not necessarily give us much. So I guess from our point of view, it's important that we, trust the work that we've been putting in over the last couple of weeks and we know things will be different at the Oval and we've got to take confidence, I guess, from the work that we've done over the last couple of weeks. (How costly was the drop catches?) Yeah, I said that before the series that, sometimes against England, it's those small moments that, that may swing a test match either way and I guess when it's a low scoring affair, then those opportunities do become important. But, it's certainly not through a lack of trying. I know the guys are always working on it, desperate to do well. But, hopefully we can tidy up a few areas heading into the Oval and go from there.

Ollie Robinson, Player of the Match: Yeah, a huge dream (his comeback). There's a time when I never thought I would be back on the pitch for England, but to be back on the pitch this week and do that for the team and get the win, such a special feeling and to walk off there with all the lads, the first test of the summer, win and roll out, an amazing feeling. (Talks about nerves coming into this game) Yeah, it's probably the worst nerves I've had before a game, to be honest. The day before, anxiety through the roof. First over, I couldn't feel my legs. But after the first wicket, they calmed a bit. Tried to calm my emotions. But the Lord's crowd were unbelievable. The first over, one of the loudest grounds I've played under. So, yeah, just an amazing feeling and a great week. (Asked about the triple wicket maiden) No, I've never done it before. Yeah, the feelings are just so surreal. I'm just looking around. The crowd were amazing. I didn't really have any words to describe how I felt, but when it settled in and looking back at it, it's one of the highlights of my career so far, for sure. (Asked about conditions) I feel like we just bowled really well on it as well. I think we hit the stumps a lot as a bowling group, obviously, it got up and down a bit towards the end, a lot of seam movement sideways and our plans were really clear, which we stuck to, and we came out the right side of the result. I thought Emilio Gay, played unbelievable on debut as well to get us to a great score there in the second innings and give us something to defend. Yeah, it was a really enjoyable week to be part of that seam group. Everyone bowled really well. Gus again, 5-for here. He loves bowling here and Tongue is just an unbelievable bowler. He never misses, 90 miles an hour and it's just a really enjoyable week to be part of that seam attack. Hopefully, we can keep that going through the summer. Definitely. I know this is just the start and I know there's a lot of hard work to go. I've just got to put those yards in to make sure, like you say, it's a long career and no let-up this time.

12.42pm local, 5.12pm IST: Atkinson is congratulated by his teammates and he holds the ball up in celebration as England wrap up the first Test at Lord's. It's the second shortest Test at this iconic venue, taking just around 167 overs across all four innings. Would've gotten over on the second day itself if not for all the rain interruptions that we had. The pitch has come under much scrutiny and rightly so. There was just way too much variable bounce and lateral movement on offer. The fast bowlers had a gala time with five-fers for Jamieson, Robinson, Nathan Smith and Gus Atkinson. But it may have been the fifties from Harry Brook in the first innings and debutant Emilio Gay in the second that propelled England in the driver's seat. New Zealand missed a number of chances which might've tilted the balance as well. They dropped five catches and missed at least one review that would've brought the wicket of Gay early in his innings. Okay, let's hear from the presentations.

Atkinson to Matt Henry, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Field brought in now