England in a spin, new-look Lord's and decent debuts... TEST MATCH TALKING POINTS

SAM MORSHEAD takes a look at matters to arise from the first day of the first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord's

Sam Morshead: Fearless Devon Conway makes predictions come true

Scorecard

England in a spin

As England waded through the final session of day one, with Devon Conway well poised and his partnership with Henry Nicholls growing, so you could hear the chorus reaching a crescendo.

“Where’s the spinner?”

The hosts chose to go into their first match of the summer without a frontline option, with Jack Leach left out in favour of a four-pronged pace attack of Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood, and weather set fair in St John’s Wood.

It was not the first time such a decision had been made during head coach Chris Silverwood’s tenure, and as Lord’s emptied on Wednesday evening it was once again very hard to qualify. 

England’s squad selection might be down to Silverwood but the team is picked by committee, with captain Joe Root heavily involved.

Root spoke during the week of his confidence with the ball, weaned from a winter in which he proved effective on the sub-continent with figures of 8 for 160 across tours of Sri Lanka and India, and that may have been a contributing factor to the overall decision, which England did not make until the morning of this Test match.

It should also be noted that over the past two years Root’s bowling average has been steadily coming down and, as noted by CricViz on Wednesday, prior to this match was lower than New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner’s at 43.95, and that without Ben Stokes as a fourth seamer and gun middle-order bat, England’s line-up loses its balance like a drunk on a cold winter’s morning.

But as Shane Warne pointed out vociferously, an attack needs variety.

“You need a spinner no matter what the conditions as you don’t pick a team for the first innings,” the Australian legend wrote on Twitter. 

There is of course no guarantee that Leach would have proved more productive than Root's 12 wicketless overs for 37 runs - though Conway’s domestic first-class record against off-spin (average: 71) gives weight to the argument - nor would the Somerset left-armer have guaranteed more of an impact than any one of Anderson, Broad, Robinson or Wood. But it does raise questions of England’s selection strategy.

Ollie Robinson delivers on debut

Ollie Robinson might end up fielding more questions about his social media activity nine years ago than his performances on the pitch on debut at Lord’s, but this was a very good introduction to Test cricket for the Sussex allrounder.

Although he started a little nervously - overstepping on his first delivery and tempering his pace in his first three or four overs - during the second session he discovered rhythm and verve which made him by far the most effective of England’s four seamers.

Making use of the full width of the crease, and adjusting his angle intelligently with only a modest amount of lateral movement available to the bowlers, the one-two combination of a zippy wider delivery followed by a slightly more skiddy straight’un to get rid of Tom Latham - one of the world’s top opening batsmen - bowled off the inside edge, was a thing of beauty.

Robinson has made his name in county cricket over the past four seasons thanks to his metronomic reliability - right length, right line, time and time again.

New Zealand did not become the world’s No.1 ranked Test team without reason, and their top five consists of four established stars of the international game and a new face in Devon Conway who finished the day 136 not out, yet during that second session Robinson was always the biggest threat. 

^{Ollie Robinson struck twice on debut}

The first-ball no-ball club

Robinson should not worry a great deal about sending down a no ball with his first delivery in Test cricket. In fact, he is the third member of this England XI to do so.

Master of the statistical quirks, Andrew Samson, tweeted a doozy after Robinson’s indiscretion on day one, listing those England bowlers who have done the same across the history of ball-by-ball scoring data.

Jimmy Anderson began his Test career with a front-foot no ball, also at Lord’s, while who can forget the circus-act over from Dom Sibley against Pakistan last summer?

Robinson can be pretty certain his bowling career with England is going to be much more along the lines of the former than the latter.

ENGLAND PLAYERS WITH NO BALLS FROM FIRST BALL ON DEBUT

PGH Fender

M Hendrick

NF Williams

JM Anderson

J Lewis

A Khan

DP Sibley

OE Robinson

*courtesy Andrew Samson

Adopt the Bracey position

James Bracey faces the monstrous task of proving himself on two fronts during his debut Test match.

While shifting to No.7 after several seasons spent opening the batting for Gloucestershire is tough, replacing Ben Foakes - among the world’s best wicketkeepers - and dealing with the subsequent comparisons is even tougher. 

It seems to be quickly forgotten that Bracey is a genuine wicketkeeper, who has been charged with the role by England Lions in Australia as recently as early 2020.

While claiming some ability with the gloves might be the modern English cricketer’s equivalent of Microsoft Excel proficiency among jobseekers, Bracey’s elevation here comes with some justification, and is not quite the same as Ollie Pope being airdropped behind the stumps in New Zealand two winters ago.

He might not have the panache and enviable cool of Foakes, but he was for the large part of day one functional and reliable at a venue which is notoriously difficult for keepers.

There were one or two routine takes which went to ground but nothing glaring, he resisted an early Stuart Broad attempt to throw away a review, and was alert to a marginal stumping chance off Joe Root. 

Bracey’s contribution in these Tests should be viewed in their totality, and with context. And after one day, he’s not doing too badly at all.

^{The view from the Nursery Ground towards the back of the new Compton and Edrich stands}

A new look to Lord’s

There is a striking new skyline for spectators at Lord’s upon entry through the North Gate.

The impressive, redeveloped Compton and Edrich Stands share the intergalactic feel of the Media Centre which stands between them, and stand quite imperiously over the Nursery Ground.

Though capacity is limited to 6,500 for this fixture, owing to Covid-19 restrictions, later in the summer the three-tiered structures may well be stacked with spectators. 

It has been quite a ride for the MCC to get these stands to something approaching completion, but that will surely provide a sense of job well done.