If the first day of England’s red-ball summer was an indication of things to come, we are in for quite a ride. Under new coach Brendon McCullum and new captain Ben Stokes, England first toppled New Zealand for 132 runs, with the damage done mostly in a thrilling opening session to the delight of a rapt Lord’s crowd. The new regime might even have ruffled a few feathers among the MCC members gently roasting in the late morning sun, so quick was the dismantling that it barely resembled Test cricket at all.
Then came a familiar batting collapse that served as a stark reminder of England’s flaws. A flurry of late wickets saw five batters fall for only eight runs as they relinquished all control, as if perplexed to have held it in the first place. England reached stumps on 116-7, trailing by 16 runs, perhaps notionally in the ascendancy but with momentum well and truly sucked away.
