England vs New Zealand – 1st Test Match Preview & Prediction
THE FACTS
When is England vs New Zealand taking place? Thursday, June 2nd-6th, 2022 – 11:00 (UK)
Where is England vs New Zealand taking place? Lord’s, London
What is the expected weather for England vs New Zealand? 17-21c, dry with sunny intervals on Days 1, 2 and 3, but light rain forecast across Day 4 whilst Day 5 should prove dry, albeit cloudy.
What channel is England vs New Zealand on? The match will be televised live on Sky Sports
Where can I stream England vs New Zealand? Sky Sports subscribers in the UK can stream this match live via the Sky Go App
LAST MEETING
New Zealand beat England by eight wickets
THE TEAM NEWS
ENGLAND
- Following their latest series defeat away in the West Indies this past March, it’s all change once again amid the England “red ball reset” with a new captain in Ben Stokes, plus a new head coach in Brendon McCullum and the pressure is firmly on the shoulders of both to reverse the fortunes of a nation who have won just one of their last 17 Test matches.
- England head into this first Test with their bowling stocks heavily depleted through injury and the likes of Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Olly Stone, Matt Fisher, Saqib Mahood and Jofra Archer will all not feature, with the recalled duo of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, both expected to play alongside spin-bowler Jack Leach.
- Durham bowler Matthew Potts has been named in the squad for the first time and will make his Test debut, whilst Yorkshire batter Harry Brook is expected to miss out despite his outstanding start to the county season, with the hosts keeping faith in Jonny Bairstow at number 5 due to his good recent form for England in Test cricket, despite him only just arriving back from the IPL.
NEW ZEALAND
- World Test champions New Zealand are eying up a second red ball triumph in England in as many years, but they themselves will not be at their strongest heading into this opening Test match at Lord’s.
- Left-arm fast bowler Trent Boult has only just returned from the IPL after featuring in the final for Rajasthan Royals and with a lack of practice behind him, Boult could be rested for the first Test with the Black Caps potentially opting for a pace bowling attack of Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner, although one would have to drop out should New Zealand wish to include spinner Ajaz Patel.
- Batter Henry Nicholls has travelled to England with the squad, but a calf injury is expected to see him miss out and two all-rounders inserted among the tourists’ middle order in Daryl Mitchell and Colin de Grandhomme.
THE PREDICTION
It’s a testament as to the state of Test match cricket in England right now that Lord’s is not sold out across all five days of what is always such a special occasion, the first Test of an English summer at the Home of Cricket. The anger among England cricket fans at those within power regarding the marginalisation of the red ball game within the country has been justified, but new managing director of England cricket Rob Key has already taken positive steps to rectify this. His first job was naming Ben Stokes as the new England Test captain, replacing Joe Root following his resignation after defeat in the West Indies and this was followed up by the recall of both Anderson and Broad to the Test squad. A rigorous recruitment process saw Brendon McCullum named head coach of the Test team and his first assignment will be to overcome his fellow countrymen. However, New Zealand have had their own problems going into this first Test. Captain and batting lynchpin Kane Williamson is in arguably the worst form of his career and his side are coming off the back of a shock defeat against a County Select XI in a four-day warm up match at Chelmsford.
This match will likely be determined by England’s top order batting performance and specifically whether the likes of Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope can garner significant scores, with the former under pressure following a poor start to the County Championship for Kent and the latter set to bat at three for the first time in his career. The likes of Anderson and Broad should find success against New Zealand’s batters at Lord’s, a ground which has been good to both over the years and it’s whether the hosts can back up the performance of their bowlers. Ultimately, all three results are very much possible in what is a very tough match in which to predict a result, especially with rain forecast across the whole of Day 4. What is expected however, is Joe Root to continue his unrelenting penchant for runs in an England shirt. Against the Black Caps, back Root to accrue over 81.5 runs across this first Test.
