Key events

WICKET! Gay c Mitchell b Jamieson 8 (England 16-1)

Ah what a shame for Emilio Gay… but it does take a good ball to get rid of him. Jamieson finds the line, the length, the lift and the edge.

5th over: England 15-0 (Duckett 7, Gay 8) England get their first runs that actually involve some running as Duckett tucks Henry off his hip for two. Then the openers change ends for the first time as Duckett repeats the shot to a ball that swings in late. The skies are still a darker shade of grey.

4th over: England 12-0 (Duckett 4, Gay 8) England are getting ’em in boundaries. Gay gets a full ball from Jamieson and on-drives for four, holding the pose. “Nothing wrong with that,” says Nasser Hussain. “It means you’re in a good technical position.” The next ball beats Gay outside off and for a moment Tom Blundell thinks there’s a thin edge. Then he tries his first cut and doesn’t middle it at all. Nasser blames the pitch: “the bounce on the first morning is non-existent.” The over ends with a stifled appeal for LBW. Jamieson is finding his radar.

3rd over: England 8-0 (Duckett 4, Gay 4) Duckett, facing Henry again, finally finds the middle of the bat. He drives the first ball to mid-off and the second to the boundary at extra-cover, with conviction.

2nd over: England 4-0 (Duckett 0, Gay 4) Jamieson manages to land the other five balls and find some swing, but his line and length are all over the place. There’s one decent ball, drawing a leading edge from Gay which never looks like carrying to the cordon.

2nd over, first ball: England 4-0 (Duckett 0, Gay 4) It’s Kyle Jamieson and he has a present for Emilio Gay: a full toss! Gay guides it away behind square and smiles like a man who wasn’t expecting that.

1st over: England 0-0 (Duckett 0, Gay 0) The bowler is Matt Henry, the first ball a damp squib – a grubber outside off. Duckett leaves it, and the next one, which at least reaches the keeper aboce his ankles. Duckett does play at the third ball, and misses! He leaves the fourth and nudges the fifth and sixth. That may be the most sedate over of Duckett’s career.

The bell is rung by Emma Crowe, daughter of Martin, another fine player who didn’t live all that long. The series is being played for the Crowe-Thorpe Trophy. The anthems are sung. The England players head off with a few squeezes of the hand for Emilio Gay. The New Zealanders gather in a huddle. The openers, Gay and Ben Duckett, half-run to the middle.

The teams come out – both teams, in full, to take their places in one long, elegant line. Emilio Gay leans his bat against an ad hoarding and chews his gum. There’s a minute’s silence, the announcer says, “as we remember some of the greats of our game”. The faces on the scoreboard include Robin Smith and Hugh Morris, both gone too soon, and the equally well-loved MJK Smith.

The second email of the day comes from inside the ground. “Morning Tim,” says Nick Parish. “It’s been a long and winding road to me first seeing a Test match at Lord’s. In 2022 I had tickets for the fourth day against South Africa and England lost in 3 days. In 2024 I had tickets for the fourth day against West Indies – I guess that was marginally better, because at least that time England won in 3 days.

“Learning from my mistakes, this year I have gone for the first day, only to face a tube strike and an apocalyptic weather forecast only a week after it was 33C. However I’m here, with a smile and the requisite two tinnies, and very much looking forward to it all. However much ‘it all’ is.”

Hoping you have a ball. Or even 540 balls.

Teams in full

England 1 Ben Duckett, 2 Emilio Gay, 3 Jacob Bethell, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jamie Smith (wkt), 7 Ben Stokes (capt), 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Ollie Robinson, 10 Josh Tongue, 11 Shoaib Bashir.

New Zealand 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Dary Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wkt), 7 Glenn Phillips, 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Nathan Smith, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Will O’Rourke.

Teams in brief

New Zealand have opted for the extra seamer, so the promising Nathan Smith squeezes out the venerable Mitch Santner. England have taken the opposite tack, preferring Shoaib Bashir’s mercurial off-breaks to Sonny Baker’s untried pace. The toss makes both decisions look better, as the team bowling last (England) will be the one with the specialist spinner.

Toss: NZ put England in

The toss has taken place! Tom Latham wins it and says he’ll have a bowl, as most captains would under these leaden skies. That makes it an even bigger moment for Emilio Gay, who has just been presented with his England cap by Alastair Cook. They both went to the same school, Bedford. Are they also members of the same school of batsmanship? We’ll soon see.

Ben Stokes loses the toss and Tom Latham puts England in. Photograph: Gareth Copley/ECB/Getty Images

The first email of the day comes from Tim Harnedy. “Oh my God the radar,” it begins. “Looking at the deluge making its way up the M4 towards London, I’m not sure how much use it is asking for help finding a way listening to Test Match Special over here in Ireland, but any hints gratefully accepted.

“Ireland didn’t provide a particularly stern test for New Zealand in the match at Belfast, but the weather was better. Maybe England should visit for a match sometime?”

They certainly should.

Preamble

Morning everyone and welcome to the first Test of the English summer. Ashes, what Ashes? There’s a lot to look forward to here.

It’s the 150th Test at Lord’s, the first ground to reach that milestone. The next one looks like being Melbourne, some time in the 2040s, so here is one facet of cricket where England still rules the world.

It’s a reboot for our old friend Bazball, which is now going to be “slightly smarter” (according to Baz McCullum) or “a lot smarter” (according to Ben Stokes). As in Australia, these two seem to be singing from half of the same hymn sheet.

It’s a big moment for Emilio Gay, who will make his debut for England and open the batting in place of Zak Crawley, the only head to roll after a sobering winter. It may be an even bigger moment for Ollie Robinson, the prodigal seamer, as he walks into the last-chance saloon.

It’s the biggest series for New Zealand since they last faced England in December 2024. They’ve played only six Tests since, but they’ve brought a strong squad, stuffed with seasoned batters and talented bowlers. Their last big series away from home went quite well: they beat India 3-0.

It’s all set to be a great occasion. But have you seen the weather forecast? Bad for today, even worse for Saturday, bad again for Monday. If a bit of water could just be allowed to seep through the covers, it might be the only hope of a result.

The toss is at 10.30am (BST), at least in theory.