Published: May 16, 2013, 03:09 PM (IST)
Edited: May 16, 2013, 03:09 PM (IST)
New Zealand have been asked to bowl after England captain Alastair Cook won the toss in the first Test match at the Lord’s © Getty Images (File Photo)
London: May 15: 2013
England captain Alastair Cook has won the toss and elected to bat in the first Test match against New Zealand at the Lord’s.
England will look to shred off their complacency woes as they begin the two-match Test series against New Zealand at Lord’s on Thursday. Though the previous three encounters in New Zealand ended in a 0-0 stalemate, the Kiwis have already given a wake-up call to Cook’s team.
Both teams will rely on their pacers to swing the momentum in their favour, even though the visitors’ are comparatively less experienced to their English counterpart. It’s the batting which in a sense would differentiate the teams. The solidity provided by Cook, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell and Matt Prior along with the success of Nick Compton and an in-form Joe Root will help the home side.
Ahead of the first test, pacer Stuart Broad said, “Looking back at New Zealand, okay our skills were not as good as they could have been but the fighting character to bat out two days to save matches is the sort of character you need in Test cricket.”
Touring New Zealand in March earlier this year at the back of a historic series win in India, the English side were confident of a carrying the series back home. However, the drawn series was an example of England’s smugness where they escaped an embarrassing defeat thanks to a match-saving ton by Matt Prior in the third Test at Auckland. The close encounter in return has given much needed confidence to the eighth-ranked Test team (New Zealand) to regain their hold in Test cricket.
It will be a case of familiarity having bred respect when England face New Zealand in the first of a two-Test series at Lord’s.
England could have been forgiven for thinking they had completed the hard part of their most recent tour programme when they wrapped up an impressive Test series win in India before Christmas.
They then travelled to New Zealand for a three-match series against a home side still reeling from the botched way in which senior batsman Ross Taylor was stripped of the captaincy and replaced by Brendon McCullum.
But the green pitches and easy haul of wickets against a New Zealand side who as recently as January had been bowled out for just 45 by South Africa in Cape Town did not materialise.
Teams:
England: Alastair Cook (c), Nick Compton, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Jonathan Bairstow, Matt Prior (wk), Joe Root, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn.
New Zealand: Peter Fulton, Hamish Rutherford, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Dean Brownlie, Brendon McCullum (c), BJ Watling (wk), Tim Southee, Bruce Martin, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult.
Catch live scores and ball-by-ball commentary of the first Test match England vs New Zealand here
