Anderson, Broad and Potts offer England fans priceless thrills at Lord’s

A reverend, a rabbi, and a Buddhist nun walked into Lord’s. No joke. They were all taking part in a multi‑faith celebration of cricket organised during the lunch interval by the England and Wales Cricket Board’s outgoing CEO, Tom Harrison. It was billed as a demonstration of English cricket’s ability to bring people together. Out on the field, England’s bowlers were doing a pretty good job of that too.

The stands were full, the sun was out, and the grass underneath it brilliant green. Jimmy Anderson was on from one end, Stuart Broad the other, the slips were catching bullets, and New Zealand were seven for three, then 27 for five, then 45 for seven.

It was one of those mornings, vanishingly rare in recent years, when it felt as if English cricket actually worked. The arguments that have riddled the game here in the last year began to slip out of mind. That’s what those £160 tickets buy you, a day with your cares left behind. Unless one of them is the cost of living, that is. The Lord’s Test is priceless if you’re lucky enough to be able to afford it.

They got a lot for the money, at least. With the ball seaming and swinging, the opposition reeling, new England felt something like old England. Not the lot who turned up here to play New Zealand this time last year, conceded a lead of 103 and ended up batting out a boring draw, but some other prelapsarian side from your mind’s dewy eye.

You could almost anticipate the nostalgia that people will feel looking back on the day they saw Broad and Anderson in their late‑era pomp. Maybe this feeling follows them around now. They turn 36 and 40 respectively this summer and neither they, nor anyone else, can be sure exactly how many more games they have left to play.

It’s not too