England v New Zealand, first Test: live We have to restart our publishing system now, so bear with me and we'll be back with the post-lunch action from 1.40pm. I imagine the contraption looks a bit like this. Oh, Andrew Strauss is on the Sky Sports having a chat with Nasser and Lord Gower. Sky have today announced that Andrew will join the Sky team for the next two series. OVER 104: ENG 209/8 (Bairstow 29* Finn 2*) Second ball of the over and Martin has ripped it... that turned a long way. Couple of deliveries in this over - short and wide outside off, a legside full toss - should have been given the treatment. Could have, maybe should have, been two boundaries in that over. As it is, it's a maiden, and I think that's a pretty fitting way for us to go in and have our lunch. OVER 103: ENG 209/8 (Bairstow 29* Finn 2*) Jonny clips Wagner off the pads for a couple and drives down the ground for one. Not the best over we have see from Wagner, some of it too wide. Should be time for one more before lunch, maybe two if Martin rattles through. OVER 102: ENG 206/8 (Bairstow 26* Finn 2*) Bruce Martin, a good bowler and a good pro who is, IMHO, being shown perhaps a little bit too much respect by the England batsmen, comes on and gets through another cheap over. Bairstow goes back to cut and is hurried. Risky. Still, one for it. OVER 101: ENG 205/8 (Bairstow 25* Finn 2*) Wagner keeps doing all the right things. Finny does all the wrong things by swinging and missing at a good ball. Later in the over, he gets a thick edge down to gully for a couple. This has been a pretty wretched effort all things considered, from the England side. Sky showing the wagon wheel, only a handful of runs through third man in the innings. Just four, I think. Translation: not a lot of pace in the wicket, few edges? Two left armers looking to bring the ball in to the right handers? OVER 100: ENG 203/8 (Bairstow 25* Finn 0*) Good shot from Bairstow, down the ground, but not a good bit of running between him and Finn. Should have tried to turn two into three there, off the last ball of the over. Jonny looking to play a couple of shots. OVER 99: ENG 201/8 (Bairstow 23* Finn 0*) Finn comes in and leaves his first ball on length. It comes back off the seam and passes over middle stump. Great judgement from the Watford Wall on his home patch! Erm, maybe. Golly that was close. He survives the rest of the over. Bairstow gonna have to play some shots now. That's hard lines on a young lad who must know that his place is on the line, but hey, team game and that. No fielder in front of gully on the offside if The Wall wants to try his luck. He does not. Broad lbw Wagner 5 Good ball from Wagner, full and just doing enough, Swann plays a shot at it but only gets a thin edge. Regulation catch for Watling, who has been impressive behind the sticks at a tough ground for visiting keepers. Wagner had shaped a few in, this one goes down the slope, nice bit of bowling and deserved reward for his hard work throughout the innings and England are reeling. OVER 98: ENG 201/7 (Bairstow 23* Swann 5*) More good stuff from Southee, squares Swann up, and there's a single to each man and England have limped past 200. OVER 97: ENG 199/7 (Bairstow 22* Swann 4*) First ball of that over, Bairstow drove the ball out to mid off for three, but it brought Broad onto strike for one delivery, which is all Wagner needed to send him back to the hutch. Attractive square drive from Swanny gives him four; Wagner responds with two sharp, hostile and well-directed bouncers. Broad lbw Wagner 0 No doubt about that one! It's the outswinger from Wagner, Broad shuffles across his stumps to be hit on the back foot, plays across the line and that is absolutely plumb. Three wickets in six balls. Heh. Nasser Hussain: "That is the plumbest LBW I have ever seen." OVER 96: ENG 192/6 (Bairstow 19* Broad 0*) That over has dealt England a huge body blow, well done Tim Southee. Bit of good fortune with the first wicket, Root will be annoyed with himself for getting out with a leg-side strangle, but the next ball to remove Prior for a golden duck was the nuts. Lovely bowling. England are reaping what they have sown here, a parade of batsmen getting and spending long periods at the crease - Root was in for 114 balls for his 40 - but without scoring. Then you get out and a lad gets a jaffer first up and before you know it, England are in the soup. Root c Watling b Southee 40 Yeurch, how incredibly annoying. Southee had started to get the ball to swing, perhaps the change of ends but I think maybe more that it has got a little older. A nice ball outside off has Root nearly nudging at it, although he withdraws the bat. But now a harmless ball swings down the legside, a nothing delivery really and Root has fiddled at it, got a thin edge and he's well caught down the legside by Watling. ...Prior comes in... Prior lbw Southee 0 And Matt Prior has gone first ball! A really fine delivery shapes back in, super bowling, and Prior has been trapped on the crease, balance all wrong, he came across his stumps and the ball coems back in. Prior reviews but that looks a good shout to me. It could maybe have slid down leg, and it hit him on the knee roll.... It's going to stay with the onfield call, clipping the top of leg and Matt Prior has gone for a golden duck! ...Broad to face the hat-trick ball... four slips, two gullies, short midwicket, deep short leg, short extra cover and a partridge in a pair tree as the Kiwis crowd around their prey. Sadly for them, Southee cannot quite produce the killer ball, slanting across Broad and he can leave it. Broad survives the next one as well. OVER 95: ENG 192/4 (Root 40* Bairstow 19*) Two nice shots from Bairstow. Wagner digs it in short, it's turned off the hip for a couple. Now Wagner over-pitches and Jonny drives it authoratitively back past the bowler for four. OVER 94: ENG 186/4 (Root 40* Bairstow 13*) Change of ends for Tim Southee, who hasn't quite done the business from the outswinger's traditional Nursery End. Will he enjoy himself more from the Pav? Well, it nearly pays off right away! Root scoops it up in the air - not really sure what happened there, did it maybe stick in the pitch? Anyhow, a big let-off for Joe, just sheer dumb luck that it's gone wide of the fielder at cover. he gets two, making him England's top scorer of the innings, and that earns him - and everyone else - a drink. 26 runs in 14 overs so far today. OVER 93: ENG 184/4 (Root 38* Bairstow 13*) Rooty tucks it off the pads for one. There's young Joe Root's brother, Root The Even Younger, on the left. Picture from Sky Sports He was on the pitch earlier carrying the drinks, Billy Root. Not too certain who the other kid is - anyone? And Jeez Louise don't it make you feel old? OVER 92: ENG 183/4 (Root 37* Bairstow 13*) Boult keeps plugging away - the fitness of these Kiwi lads is most impressive - and it's another solid over with just a single to each batsman. Jon Horsley with an excellent point: "England's top three. If Compton is replaced by Root, all their names can be used as verbs. Not saying it should be instrumental in the selection process, but, it is undeniably pleasing. Yeah and I guess with IR Bell at four, if you approve of the modern argot of "bell me on the mobile" then you're four for four. And of course Pietersen at five, in the increasingly common usage of Pietersen (v): to self-aggrandise and get up people's noses, as in "this guy came into the bar, throwing his money about and running his yap, generally Pietersening up the joint." OVER 91: ENG 181/4 (Root 36* Bairstow 12*) Nicely timed shot by Rooty out to deep cover, they would have got two but a misfield from Rutherford allows them to turn it into three. Wagner not a happy bunny. his mood is not improved when he gets it all wrong and sends down a monster wide, Harmison special, slips leaping in alarm. Anyhow, Wagner gets it together two balls later, an absolute snorter that seams back savagely to cut Bairstow in half. Single off the last ball, the most eventful over of the day thus far. OVER 90: ENG 176/4 (Root 33* Bairstow 11*) Boult on the button, Bairstow blocks. OVER 89: ENG 176/4 (Root 33* Bairstow 11*) First bowling change of the day, and it's the yeoman Neil Wagner. Good solid lad, by the looks of him in the winter and so far in this match, and he rewards his skipper with a very good opening over. Over the wicket to Root, right on the button from the first ball, shaping the ball back in and also getting a tiny bit of seam-in, nothing for Root to do other than keep this over out. Brendon has moved one of those slips to a second gully, two slips and two gullies now. Gloomy at Lord's now... Lanky: "Good point James Brown (over 85), I got you. In fact it seems Bell faced 50 balls from Martin yesterday and only scored of 3 of them - 2 twos and a single - 47 dot balls - overall scoring rate of 23 - even I could do that!! If you don't make the strokes you don't score the runs... OVER 88: ENG 176/4 (Root 33* Bairstow 11*) Well, that should give him some confidence: after sensibly leaving a wide tempter, Bairstow gets a full ball from Boult and punches it down the ground for four. Nicely done. That boundary ensures that England keep up with their innings run rate: still a round two-and-over. The lights are on at Lord's. What is a good score? Is anybody brave enough to put a number on it?" asks Colin. I tell you what: whatever a good score is (300? Given the unhelpful outfield and the slowish pitch) I reckon England are going to be short of it. I'm not feeling too confident in Bairstow here. I hope to be proved wrong. OVER 87: ENG 172/4 (Root 33* Bairstow 7*) That's the game, Tim. First ball of the over he gets one to swing, it's a slow hooping sort of a swing in a nice banana shape outside off and young Bairstow nearly obliges with a really poor shot, no foot movement, just a whifty waft at it, and lucky for him he doesn't connect. Jonny gets a single, and now Tim Southee swings one to Root as well. Ball is on top here, once again, and I just hope Bairstow doesn't do anything silly. OVER 86: ENG 171/4 (Root 33* Bairstow 6*) A single off Bairstow's inside edge is the sole score in a good solid over from Trent Boult. OVER 85: ENG 170/4 (Root 33* Bairstow 5*) Somewhat improved by Southee, still not swinging the ball or putting it quite in the right place, there's a single to each batsman. I would suggest that this change of ends hasn't quite panned out so far, although of course it's early days. James Brown: "Good morning Alan. England haven't become too negative but they have selected a top 3 whose primary attributes are adhesion. Strauss always had the ability to score quickly and therefore broke up Cook and Trott nicely but Compton reduces the ability to score quickly. Add in the injury to KP and Ian Bell at 4 and it compounds the issue. OVER 84: ENG 168/4 (Root 32* Bairstow 4*) Best over of the day so far. First ball, Bairstow pushes rather uncertainly at a ball outside off and gets the edge. Played it with soft hands and it lands short of third slip. Fifth ball of the over, an LBW shout - the ball seams in a touch and hits JB on the front pad. Would have clipped the top of leg, but it pitched outside leg. Good maiden from Trent. OVER 83: ENG 168/4 (Root 32* Bairstow 4*) As David Lloyd remarks, Southee has probably bowled more leg-side balls this morning than in the whole of yesterday. Root tucks one away for three into the deep mid on ergion, then Bairstow ducks an unthreatening bouncer before taking a single off his pads, opening his own account for the morning. OVER 82: ENG 164/4 (Root 29* Bairstow 3*) Trent Boult is sharing the new ball. A maiden from him to Jonny B, but no swing yet for either bowler. Not a bad over as such but not a lot of devil in it. "Good morning everyone," writes Lanky. "here we are again, yawn, stretch .... A lovely, cold morning with damp in the atmophere which explains why I have my double layer sleeping bag, my flask and kettle, my small bunsen fire and a hot water bottle. If nothing else the sleeping bag will protect me from an extravagant scoring rate - oh dear, forgot the pillow - anyone got a spare pillow? Ah, you never know. Might pick up today. I reckon it will, actually. OVER 81: ENG 164/4 (Root 29* Bairstow 3*) Three slips and a gully for Southee to Root. Takes a while to get the radar. The first couple are slanted down the leg side, poor deliveries and they don't swing. Ball four is better, squares Rooty up a bit but nothing too dramatic. Last ball of the over, Southee once again drifts onto the legs and it's a half-volley to boot. Root clips that away for a cheap four and that's not much of a start from Southee, all things considered. 10.59 Aleem Dar is holding up the new ball. We are going to have 98 overs today. Tim Southee will take it, from the Nursery End. He bowled from the Pavilion yesterday. 10.58 Here come Root and Bairstow. 10.55 We're about ready for the day's play. McCullum leads out his New Zealand side, if they can nick out these two youngsters in the first hour, they have a chance to get into a winning position. No rain forecast today, but it is cloudy. 10.50 Quite interesting analysis from Nasser, he's saying how Martin holds the ball outside off, not looking to attack like a more modern spinner - ie a guy who has bowled more with DRS. Therefore, says Nasser, when England's players are giving Martin the charge (Compton yesterday, for instance) they are then too far inside the line of the ball, and hence likely to screw it into the air on the off. 10.45 Ah, our first email of the day. "Good to have you back," says Colin. Thanks very much Colin, good to be here. He continues: "The headline for yesterday was, of course, the 'cut-price' cuisine at Lords. That story could go global. But of more interest is who gets the chop when big Kev gets back - I hope it is Bell, as I think we have seen the best of him, but are the selectors brave enough to select three youngsters against Dad's Army? Excellent question, I reckon. I don't think Belly now will ever be more than what he is: a wonderful talent who cannot be relied upon to make a really big score when the chips are down, the odd superb innings (199 v South Africa here in 2008) aside. 10.40 Kiwi spinner Bruce Martin agrees "he was a bit surprised that England didn't come at him more." He says that he "loves the Duke ball, it has a big seam and the seam stays hard. It does a lot more than a Kookabura. Bruce Martin seems like a top guy, Ian Smith confirms "he's a cool guy, laid back but he's a real competitor." Martin takes some ribbing from Ian Ward about yesterday's dropped catch in good heart. 10.30 It's a bit cloudy and overcast in London but we will be starting on time. The rain came after 80 overs yesterday, so New Zealand will have a brand new ball. Graham Gooch is speaking to Sky Sports: "Not our best day, but it is only day one of the Test so let's not make too many judgements just yet. Those who have played the game know that some days it is tough, you cannot get the ball through the field. Like Trotty yesterday, Gooch says "you can probably add on 25 runs for the slow outfield." Erm, I guess. Gooch quite bullish in defence of the batsmen, doesn't seem to have much truck with the idea that they scored too slowly. Not the day we wanted but it is not the end of the world. Graham Gooch talks to Sky Sports 1, wearing a towel due to a sore neck 10.25 Meanwhile, another of our big hitters at Lord's, the former Middlesex pace bowler Simon Hughes, has some sympathy for Nick Compton. It is not often that a batsman takes guard in a Test match in the shadow of a stand named after his grandfather. If Nick Compton yearns to shake off the burden of the family name, it will not happen at Lord's where the great Denis was such a favourite. And Compton bats as if he has a heavy load on his shoulders. At the crease he seems a touch rigid, rather constrained and overly cautious. 10.20 "England's medical team must have been busy last evening dishing out purgatives after this season's first day of Test cricket saw a mass outbreak of constipation," begins Scyld Berry's report of yesterday's 'action'. He also addresses the latest round of alleged corruption, this time in the IPL. Still, England collectively were almost as inert as the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit appears to have been in India, where once again the exposing of allegedly corrupt cricketers has had to be done by other agencies. The ACSU seems to deal with corruption in the same way that England's batsmen played the pace bowling yesterday, by letting it go outside off-stump. 10.15 Good morning, Alan Tyers here, hoping to bring you some slightly more exciting cricket than we had yesterday at Lord's, where fans had to numb the pain of England's two-an-over crawl with twenty quid steak sandwiches. As I see it, you can look at England's efforts yesterday in one of two ways. One, they had a game plan to take no risks and bat New Zealand out of the game slowly, but found that the sluggish pitch and heavy outfield made run-scoring hard. A couple of batsmen got good balls (and excellent catches), which happens. Nick Compton got out to a misjudgement of a shot that has served him well in the past (which also happens). The other way to look at it is to say that this is further evidence England are a team lacking in confidence, unwilling or unable to take the initiative against even a modest opponent. Yesterday wasn't the first time we have seen them - in all forms of the game - take things a bit too cautiously, and they have let the opposition get on top here. Whether a top four of Cook, Compton, Trott and Bell - the last-named, in my opinion, is still after all these matches a fellow who responds to the actions of those around him - are too passive is a valid question. Of course, it was just one day. Maybe today England can seize some initiative. With the in-form Root and the exciting Bairstow at the crease, and Prior on deck, they certainly have the players to do it. New Zealand, though, have a new ball and will be feeling pretty good about themselves I reckon.