New Zealand fightback has England in trouble after new era’s bright morning

Ben Stokes has packed so much into his 30 years on this planet that his first outing as England’s permanent Test captain starting at breakneck speed, and featuring more action than a Hollywood blockbuster, should probably be no surprise.

And it’s not like we weren’t warned, either. When Rob Key decided Brendon McCullum was the ideal head coach to pair with Stokes, the director of men’s cricket told folks to “buckle up and get ready for the ride”. An opening day of 17 wickets and 248 runs played out to the burbling hum of Lord’s, initially dominated by the hosts but with New Zealand fighting back in the final session, certainly met that billing.

Indeed, come the close it was the tourists in the ascendancy, atoning for a rusty performance in which they were rolled for 132 in 40 overs by reducing England to 116 for seven from 36 in reply. Zak Crawley had played a princely 43 only to fall to the latest booming drive of his nascent Test career, while Alex Lees dug in for 25. But otherwise it was a string of low scores as Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult ran amok.

This startling late collapse of seven for 41 had simply continued the gripping mood of a first innings in which the returning Jimmy Anderson and the impressive debutant Matt Potts took four wickets apiece, Jonny Bairstow made three fine catches, and play stopped at 23 overs so the ground could applaud the life of Shane Warne. There was also a nasty tumble over the boundary rope that forced poor Jack Leach to be subbed out of his first home Test in two years with concussion symptoms.

While the latter incident meant Matt Parkinson had to hare down the motorway from Manchester to make an unexpected Test debut, arriving at 5.30pm with his side batting, it may