At Lord’s, England won their first game under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. Their performance was far from perfect, but on the whole their seamers were superb and their fielding was almost flawless. They were rightly pleased with it and praised for it.
When they reached Trent Bridge, they looked to continue riding that wave. There was grey overhead and green underfoot so Stokes won the toss and opted to bowl: it was time for his seamers to torment New Zealand’s top order – denied its key cog, Kane Williamson, by Covid – once more. This is James Anderson and Stuart Broad’s favourite place to bowl, after all. There were wickets in the air.
