On the first day of the first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord's, 16 wickets fell, with fast bowlers having a field day. The pitch offered insane uneven bounce that made things thrilling, but not everyone was happy about it. Michael Vaughan, a former England captain, absolutely dislikes this pitch. He thinks the low bounce they saw on day one is super worrying. Even though the play was intense, the surface had issues that were simply too obvious to ignore.
England crumbled to 140 all out in just 40 overs, with Kyle Jamieson racking up five wickets. Then England got some revenge when Ollie Robinson sent four New Zealand batsmen back to the pavilion, leaving them at 61/6. It got ridiculous when Robinson dismissed Conway, Williamson, and Ravindra in his first over, dropping NZ to 2/3. People blasted the Lord's pitch hard after this crazy start.
Michael Vaughan said, "From what I saw on that pitch today, we saw a lot of snickoffs and a lot of LBWs where players were on the front foot, playing forward defense. The balls were hitting the pads, which suggests the pitch is a bit inconsistent in terms of bounce."
He further said, "I had a lot of fun. 16 wickets on the first day. I don't think it's a good pitch. The MCC will be the first to admit something is wrong at Lord's. This has been an issue for a few years, ever since we played a Test match against India last year." It was a great game and a great end to a Test match, but the pitch wasn't very good.
Because the Test match ended so well, we all stopped talking about the pitch. It's not a great Test match wicket, but we had a lot of fun. I'm sure we'll have a great Test match.
After stumps on day one, Jamieson said that New Zealand will have to work hard if they want to have any chance of taking a 1-0 lead in the Test. At stumps, New Zealand still trailed by 79 runs, with Glenn Phillips and Nathan Smith at the crease. Jamieson said that moving day has changed from day three to day one, "I think it's hard to understand at this point. We have a bit of work to do with the bat in the morning, and I'm sure we'll give it another try with the ball as well."