Jubilee enthusiasm overshadowed as unflagging England deliver at Lord’s

As the Kiwi wickets clattered throughout the opening session and a half of England’s international summer, the cricket offered more than enough entertainment to engross a near-capacity crowd at Lord’s. Which was perhaps just as well, given that the promised sideshows proved underwhelming.

Fans had been asked to wear the colours of the British flag, and perhaps there were a few more union jack jackets and ties than on a typical day at the Test, a scattering of patriotic formalwear to clash with the MCC’s traditional bacon and eggs. But of the expected off-field themes, jubilee-weekend enthusiasm was as hard to spot as the heavily trailed expanses of empty seats.

Few here would have been disappointed with the way the morning unfolded after New Zealand won the toss and were reduced to 39-6, with the possible exception of Guy Lavender, the chief executive and secretary of the MCC. In the buildup to the match Lavender said that he was “really looking forward to seeing Lord’s, and everyone in the ground, decked out in red, white and blue” and, unlike the ball on the regular occasions when it was nicked in the direction of Jonny Bairstow, he will have been let down.

Lord’s was a surprisingly jubilee-light zone. The only red arrows here were being flung towards Kiwi batters by Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Matt Potts and, briefly, Ben Stokes. It is true that the simultaneous celebrations at Buckingham Palace were being shown on a handful of screens around the ground, the only issue being that they were all located in toilets. Most notably, this brought an unexpected new meaning to the phrase royal flush.

Though some flags hung behind the Compton and Edrich Stands, the entire eastern half of the ground boasted bunting in only one