England vs New Zealand, 1st Test at Lord’s Preview: Red-hot New Zealand look to pile on misery on hosts

England will look to redeem themselves after a disappointing 1-1 draw against the West Indies in the Caribbean.

The English summer kicks off with the hosts England taking on New Zealand in the first Test at Lord’s. New Zealand go into the Test series, resuming international cricket for the first time since ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, where they ended up as runners-up. The Brendon McCullum-led side have been extremely successful in the longest format, recently finishing off Sri Lanka, winning both Tests in a two-match series, which concluded in the beginning of January. READ: New Zealand’s best chance to beat England

England, on the other hand are currently going through a transformational stage with Director of England Cricket Andrew Strauss trying to impose his authority. One of his first moves was to appoint Joe Root as the vice-captain, which is sure to pay rich dividends in the future. He also made the decision not to include star batsman Kevin Pietersen, which wasn’t welcomed by many former cricketers and fans. READ: Adam Lyth’s selection comes as a positive sign amidst England’s cricketing saga

Coming back to the squad, New Zealand have an extremely balanced squad, with McCullum at the top along with Martin Guptill. McCullum has been in tremendous form with the bat over the last year or so and he should not have any problems getting things going in England as well. Guptill also scored is maiden First-Class double ton recently in the English County.  He was in good touch in the warm up game prior to the Lords Test. READ: Kevin Pietersen’s exclusion from England squad will not make a difference

New Zealand’s middle order looks to be in steady hands with the likes of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor among the ranks. The all-round option of Corey Anderson is also at their disposal. New Zealand have many world class bowlers at their disposal. Tim Southee and Trent Boult will be New Zealand’s frontline seamers. There are however prospects of Matt Henry and Adam Milne making their Test debuts, but they will not find it easy to break into the playing XI. READ: Dear Andrew Strauss, will the non-performing Alastair Cook be also axed?

England too have a few new faces in their squad as well. Mark Wood is one of them, he made his international debut in the washed out one-off One-Day International (ODI) against Ireland. He managed to pick up a couple of wickets as well. With 103 First-Class games and over 6,700 runs, Adam Lyth’s selection comes as no surprise. He has been knocking on the selector’s doors for many years and with Jonathan Trott’s retirement, he could open the batting with skipper Alastair Cook.

England will look to redeem themselves after a disappointing 1-1 draw against the West Indies in the Caribbean. They will want to win the series comprehensively to silence their critics once and for all. James Anderson will be on a high after he became England’s leading wicket-taker during the Test series against West Indies. His bowling partner however has not been in the best form. With Chris Woakes and Steven Finn out injured, England will be reliant on Chris Jordan to perhaps be the third pacer. Ben Stokes will take the role of the batting all-rounder. England do not have any frontline spinner in their team, with Moeen Ali and Root the two part-timers. That could hurt England in the end.

New Zealand are currently in red-hot form and will be looking to add to England’s misery. Not only have England had a horrid time at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, the recent off-field controversies would have certainly had a mental impact on many senior players. England will hope they weather the storm and put in a good showing in the series.

Squads:

England: Alastair Cook (c), Adam Lyth, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Jordan, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Mark Wood.

New Zealand:  Brendon McCullum (c), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Mark Craig, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Luke Ronchi, Hamish Rutherford, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling (wk), Kane Williamson.

Time: 10.00 GMT | 15.30 IST

(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)