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ENGLAND v NEW ZEALAND, Lord's - Nasser Hussain: First day was fascinating, not dull

Lots of people were saying here that the first day of this Test series was boring and dull, but I prefer it that way rather than watching one side rack up 400 for three in a day. This was a proper contest between bat and ball.

Maybe it was the way I used to bat but I found the first day at Lord’s a fascinating contest, with the bowlers testing the techniques of the England batsmen and rarely giving them anything to get after.

There were, for instance, barely any bouncers. We see far too much dross from some bowling attacks these days and to watch England having to work hard for their runs on a slow pitch with a slow outfield was how Test cricket is meant to be, even in this impatient modern age.

Outside the box: The captaincy of Brendon McCullum was impressive on the first day of the Lord's Test

Brendon McCullum has carved out a reputation as an imaginative captain who thinks outside the box in his short time in charge of New Zealand but yesterday he was disciplined, almost Alastair Cook-like, stuck to his plans and retained control throughout.

One disadvantage of England batting with such caution is that McCullum kept them on the back foot and was still able to have three slips when Jonathan Trott was out. If Kevin Pietersen had been playing he would almost certainly have forced the New Zealand captain to take one of those slips away by then.

It has been questioned whether a top three of Cook, Nick Compton and Trott is too slow and stops England forcing the pace, but it isn’t too different from having Andrew Strauss at the top of the order. It is absolutely fine as long as you go on, and Cook will be more annoyed at himself, Trott and Bell getting out while set than the time it took each of them to reach 30.

Start of summer: Jonathan Trott (left) got himself in before he was dismissed, while Bruce Martin (right) impressed with the ball for the tourists

So I had no problem with England’s tempo, but once you set out your stall to bat for a long time the big danger is that a score of 130 for three can become 150 for five if you lose two quick wickets and much of the hard work can be undone. And they will have to think hard about how they go about playing Bruce Martin because in New Zealand and again here they have struggled to get after him and the dismissal of Compton will hardly ease their reluctance to use their feet.

Martin tends to hang the ball outside off stump and drift it away from the right-handers a bit and again this is where England miss Pietersen because he will always look to get after the slower bowlers, even if they get the better of him.

Those players who are here have to work out a method of getting after the left-armer.

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