London: England took a thrilling first test at Lord’s when it bowled out New Zealand for 220 to win by 124 runs with 9.3 overs to spare in the final session on Monday.
Six bowlers shared the wickets as the team produced a victory following a tumultuous buildup, including the sacking of their coach, in an engrossing match that was a gift to test cricket.
Fortunes fluctuated daily, and swung England’s way for good with terrific swing bowling at the start of New Zealand’s second innings.
The Kiwis lost their openers within the first seven balls, and Ross Taylor for 8, and in half an hour they were in survival mode.
They stalled England for 62 more overs, and were finished off under lights, Stuart Broad taking his third wicket. Just as the wickets on the last day were shared, so were England’s match honours.
They were coming off a loss in their last test in the West Indies, where James Anderson was the linchpin of that series, and in the interim saw coach Peter Moores sacked and in-form batsman Kevin Pietersen banished again.
But England was well-served as usual by captain Alastair Cook and Joe Root, and by all-rounder Ben Stokes, the man of the match who used his middle-order promotion to score 193 runs and take three wickets, and new paceman Mark Wood, who claimed four wickets.
The Kiwis have been unbeaten in test series since the last tour here two years ago, and won four of six series to rise two ranking places above England into third. Home advantage and history gave England a slight advantage coming in, and while the 100th test between them was one of the most compelling, it ended like so many before.
New Zealand, searching for just a ninth win over England, still hasn’t won here in this century. The positive-minded New Zealanders would have fancied the target of 345 in 77 overs achievable an hour before lunch, but in a blink they were in tatters.
Openers Martin Guptill and Tom Latham went for ducks, followed by Taylor at 12-3. There was a touch of deja vu about it all, which recalled New Zealand’s debacle at Lord’s two years ago. Back then, New Zealand earned a winning target of 239, only to be routed for 68. Panic seized them then, but not on Monday.
Stuart Broad, the bogeyman in 2013, took two wickets in the space of 15 balls. James Anderson got the first wicket, his 399th in tests, though not another.
Kane Williamson and BJ Watling stopped the bleeding for 18 overs spanning lunch, until Stokes brought Lord’s back to life by taking out Williamson and captain Brendon McCullum off successive deliveries.
Greeted by six slips, Corey Anderson let Stokes’ hat-trick ball fly outside off stump. Unfazed, Anderson lashed 13 boundaries and a six, and was seventh man out for 67 to part-time spinner Root.
Anderson had just lost his resolute partner for nearly 27 overs, Watling, who batted more than three hours with a pained right knee for 59, after 61 not out in the first innings.
Their departures exposed the tail, but Mark Craig, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, and debutant Matt Henry delayed England for 12 more overs. (AP)
