{"id":722104,"date":"2026-06-08T01:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/722104\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T01:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:36:18","slug":"cricket-news-2026-england-defeats-new-zealand-first-test-lords-pitch-criticism-bazball-reset-ollie-robinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/722104\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket news 2026 | England defeats New Zealand first Test; Lord\u2019s pitch criticism; Bazball reset; Ollie Robinson"},"content":{"rendered":"

England<\/a> wrapped up a 115-run victory over New Zealand<\/a> before lunch on day four of the first Test at Lord\u2019s<\/a> on Sunday, marking a positive start to its \u201cBazball\u201d reset after the Ashes humiliation Down Under<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Resuming on 5-55 and requiring 254 for an unlikely win, New Zealand lost its remaining five wickets inside the first two hours of play and was dismissed for 138.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gus Atkinson celebrates with Ben Stokes after dismissing Kyle Jamieson.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

England pacer Gus Atkinson finished with team-best figures of 5-30 on a bowler-friendly surface, which has seen 24 batters out bowled or lbw and no spinners getting a single delivery, at the home of cricket.<\/p>\n

Glenn Phillips was New Zealand\u2019s top scorer on 44 not out, the best of a disappointing Test for the tourists.<\/p>\n

This first Test series of the summer has been regarded as a fresh start for England and its under-pressure leadership after a 4-1 loss to Australia during an Ashes tour featuring reports of excessive drinking, and when England was accused of slack preparation and the wrong tactical approach.<\/p>\n

The headline selections early in this second iteration of \u201cBazball\u201d under coach Brendon McCullum<\/a> and captain Ben Stokes were opener Emilio Gay and seam bowler Ollie Robinson \u2014 and both delivered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat an introduction back into the team,\u201d Stokes said of Robinson post-match before describing Atkinson as \u201cMr Lord\u2019s\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ollie Robinson was named player of the match.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

With a second-innings 57, Gay had the highest individual score from either team on his Test debut. Robinson, recalled for the first time since 2024 when he was dropped over misgivings about his fitness and attitude, took seven wickets in the match (5-39 and 2-38).<\/p>\n

However, given the state of the pitch, perhaps little should be gleaned from a match that lasted 166 overs, making it the second shortest completed Test of the 150 to take place at Lord\u2019s. On average, a wicket fell every 25 balls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a surface that we weren\u2019t expecting,\u201d New Zealand captain Tom Latham said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody expected a surface like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCullum said it was a \u201cchallenging\u201d surface but was happy to see how his team adapted and executed what he described as a \u201clow-scoring shootout\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were brave at times and calculated at other times,\u201d England\u2019s New Zealand-born coach said.<\/p>\n

The second Test of the three-match series is across London at The Oval, starting June 17.<\/p>\n

— with Lachlan Harper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England wrapped up a 115-run victory over New Zealand before lunch on day four of the first Test…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-722104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}