NEW ERA SAME OLD STORY

Anderson - of course - took the first wicket of the Stokes/mccullum reign... but a familiar batting collapse let down England’s brilliant bowlers on a dramatic day at Lord’s

A NEW era has dawned for English cricket but despite a day of high drama, little has changed.

Just like any other fresh start over the past 19 years, it began the same way – with a wicket for Jimmy Anderson.

But with a recognisable batting collapse following hot on its heels as England limped to 116-7 at the close, this was as familiar a sight as anything we have shuddered over in the last few years.

Whether it is Ben Stokes in charge or Joe Root, the ability of England’s batsmen to giftwrap their wickets remains strong.

The good news is that the bowling still functions.

It only took 13 balls for the evergreen Anderson (right), who turns 40 in July, to take his incredible Test tally to 641 scalps in the most familiar of ways and provide some early reassurance to his new coach and captain. But the injection of excitement from someone new bursting onto the biggest stage, as Anderson once did, came from Matt Potts.

The 23-year-old Durham seamer matched the senior pro wicket for wicket in his first Test innings.

A contribution of 4-13, as New Zealand were bundled out for just 132 is a terrific starting point – and provided plenty for an almost full Lord’s crowd to cheer.

But it was not just about Potts or Anderson, who came within a DRS decision of an eighth five-wicket haul at HQ.

Stuart Broad got in on the act too by getting rid of Devon Conway for three, 197 fewer than his last appearance on the ground with Jonny Bairstow accounting for the first three wickets with catches at third slip.

“We should enjoy them while they are still here,” said coach Brendon Mccullum of

Anderson and Broad ahead of the match. And he is right.

The pair were unceremoniously dumped from the side that took on the West Indies in March, but they set the tone again here enabling Potts to enter the fray with New Zealand already wobbling on 12-3.

And it did not even need a Red Arrows flypast to add to the drama on an action-packed morning that saw

wickets falling, a spinner tumbling and his sub driving. From his first real involvement in the day, Jack Leach went sprinting after a ball heading for the boundary but, after flicking it back, his head hit the ground with force and he left the field with concussion.

It meant an emergency call had to be made to Lancashire leg spinner Matt Parkinson to get himself from Manchester to London for an unexpected, but deserved debut as a concussion replacement. Initially, you wondered if Parkinson might make it down in time to bowl before the Kiwis were shot away.

As it turned out, he was in danger of failing to make it in time before he had to bat.

And to think that Alex Lees and Zak Crawley put on 59 for the first wicket – the first 50-plus opening partnership for England at Lord’s for five years. Much was expected of Ollie Pope and former skipper Root (together, right).

Both men failed. Once Crawley drove loosely at Kyle Jamieson and edged behind for 43, the floodgates opened.

Root cut tamely to gully, Stokes drove ambitiously and edged behind, while Bairstow cut confidently... and chopped the ball onto his stumps.

Three senior batsmen gone for a total of 13 runs between them, while Pope’s first foray up to No.3 was one to forget. New coach, new captain, same old problems.