Rory Burns pleased with England's "attritional" start in first Test alongside new opener Dom Sibley

Burns put on 52 runs for the opening wicket with former Surrey colleague Sibley but is disappointed he was unable to build on his own half-century

Rory Burns has expressed frustration at his personal performance but says he is pleased with England's steady start to the first Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui, with his side well set at 241 for 4 at stumps.

After England won the toss and opted to bat, Burns and the debuting Dom Sibley set the tone for the opening day with a first-wicket partnership of 52, eventually broken by Colin de Grandhomme in the 22nd over.

Burns went on to reach 50 for the sixth time in his 13 Tests once former opening partner Joe Denly joined him at the crease, but three balls later he too fell to the Blackcaps' miserly allrounder.

"I sort of ebbed and flowed. There were bits where I had some rhythm, there were bits where I was scrapping away and couldn’t really find it," Burns said at the close of play.

"It was slightly indifferent but I managed to scrap my way to a score and in the end was probably disappointed that it wasn't a bigger score than it was.

"It's been a good day's cricket. The way they bowled and the discipline they showed, our run-rate was probably hovering just over two for most of the day until [Ben] Stokes got a few away there at the end."

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Although the Surrey batsman only made his international debut last November following the retirement of Sir Alastair Cook, he has quickly become the senior member of England's opening partnership.

Former county teammate Dom Sibley is the fifth player to join him at the top of the order in that time, with the Warwickshire opener selected for his first senior tour after leading all County Championship batsmen this summer with 1,324 runs for the Division 1 side.

The pair had last opened together in red-ball cricket for Surrey against Durham in 2016, and Burns believes their defensive tendencies served them well early on against the hosts' renowned swing bowlers Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

"They've obviously bowled very well but I feel we've set up the game in a way where we're really looking at establishing ourselves in this first innings and trying to get some good runs on the board," he added.

"The pitch seems like it'll probably get slower so it's lending itself to quite attritional cricket at points. You’ve got to scrap in and get in," he added.

"When me and Sibbo are walking out to the middle, the way we set up our four-day or five-day cricket is pretty traditional from both ends.

"It was nice and it was also nice to walk out there with Sibbo – it's the first time we've done that in a while. I thought the way we went about it was pretty good."

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