De Grandhomme saviour for NZ
Colin de Grandhomme’s fulfilled his all-rounder brief, much to teammates’ relief on the opening day of the first New Zealand-England test at Lord’s in London.
He top-scored with 42 not out as part of the visitors’ 132 and secured the wicket of Joe Root, guiding a catch into the slips as the hosts slumped to 116-7 at stumps.
De Grandhomme appears to have benefited from a three-match firstclass spell at Surrey, where he scored a 66 and took a four-wicket bag.
In New Zealand’s innings, 59 of the first 66 balls leading to drinks were dots or wickets.
In England’s reply, the last five wickets conceded eight runs from 28 balls.
Rush hour took hold on the stairwells of both dressing rooms. Seventeen wickets fell across the day as players turned the bacon-and-egg tie clad Long Room into a revolving door.
De Grandhomme says a deceptive straw-coloured pitch combined with accurate bowling from both sides made runs a valuable currency.
“England would’ve batted, too. Everyone thought it was going to be a good wicket, but it wasn’t easy.”
New Zealand went to lunch at 39-6, having earlier slumped to 12-4, where all the dismissals came via catches in the cordon.
The team subsequently struggled to savour the venue’s famed culinary prowess.
“Some of the boys thought they were going to enjoy a good lunch but they had to pad up,” de Grandhomme chuckled.
The plan changed from there. “We were just trying to get to 100 and then see if we could get to 130 because it was tough out there and they bowled in great areas. It moved around all day.”
New Zealand looked to have conceded first-innings honours to the hosts, who reached 59 without loss and kept the momentum going to 92-2 before their collapse.
The attack of Tim Southee, Trent Boult, de Grandhomme and Kyle Jamieson shared the spoils by bowling in attacking partnerships.
Initially, the value of a first-class diet leading into the test series made a robust case.
The host XI featured 10 players — with Jonny Bairstow the Indian Premier League-returning exception — who have toiled in white through the English autumn.
The visitors had two — Will Young for Northamptonshire and de Grandhomme for Surrey — slotting into that category. De Grandhomme top-scoring with 42 not out felt like no accident.
The Black Caps’ anaemic effort was riddled with tentativeness and indecision, which saw the top four each offer spoils to the slip cordon to reduce them to 12-4.
Captain Kane Williamson won the toss and made what appeared a logical decision to bat. The taupe pitch looked ripe for runs, on the proviso the first session could be negotiated.
Smarting from recent dubious handling by the selectors, the rhythm of James Anderson and tenacity of Stuart Broad unleashed contagion on the New Zealand dressing room before Matty Potts brought bustle.
The instruction from the new coach-captain combination of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes to play with freedom helped release any pent-up tactical confusion, although the policy had limits with the bat.
Bairstow contributed to the domination with three catches at third slip as part of a cordon which eventually peaked at five slips and a gully. A leg slip also cameoed at one point as the attacking umbrella bloomed.
One can only imagine the rustling of gear bags, crackling of velcro and the clattering of spikes down the home and visitors’ stairwells in the pavilion across the day as 17 wickets fell.
New Zealand’s batting was guilty of hesitancy outside off stump but England executed their bowling and fielding with precision.
The Black Caps top order formed what resembled a Fibonacci sequence — Will Young 1, Tom Latham 1, Kane Williamson 2, Devon Conway 3. Oh, the relief when Daryl Mitchell moved from five to nine with a rare boundary. That joy was brief.
New Zealand had already endured what they hoped was a cosmetic blemish, slipping to 19-6 against the First-Class Counties XI at Chelmsford, so day one at Lord’s presented a further blow to their batting credibility.
The argument that McCullum’s appointment might have spooked the visitors is also too simplistic. In a global cricketing village, anyone could gather intellectual property which might prove parlous to the New Zealand cause. Such analysis would seem mandatory for any opponent coming up against world champions.
However, you could sympathise if a number of senior Black Caps felt unsettled when they glanced at the home dressing room to see Big Brother sitting on the balcony armed with trade secrets.