'Beauty of Test cricket' - Twitter delighted after England field six slips at Lord's against New Zealand

The first day of the ongoing first Test between England and New Zealand turned out to be a memorable one as a total of 17 wickets fell with pace bowlers dominating the proceedings. The day started with New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson winning the toss and electing to bat first in order to put up a fighting total on board and stand up to their title of World Test Champions.

But the visitors’ hopes did not last long as England’s brilliant field setup helped them dismiss the batters for a low total of 132 in the first innings. New Zealand witnessed a terrible collapse at the very beginning. The newly appointed English skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum’s strategy to deploy six slips in place worked wonders for the team.

James Anderson marked his return in style when he provided his team with the crucial breakthrough by scalping the opening batters Tom Latham and Will Young within just five overs as England was lowered to 2/2 at 4.3 overs. It did not take long for the other returnee, Stuart Broad, to get his first wicket of the day as he sent Devon Conway packing in the 8th over.

Interestingly, all the three batters were dismissed courtesy of Jonny Bairstow, who caught the ball with perfection at slip. New Zealand faced a terrible collapse as the lineup was bundled out for a poor total of 132 runs. While Anderson finished with four wickets, debutant Matthew Potts also bagged as many wickets to mark his arrival into the game.

What a view at Lord’s!

Six fielders deployed at slips is a rare scenario in Test cricket nowadays. This technique was used by McCullum during his playing days, in an ODI, when he used to captain New Zealand. With an array of changes in the English cricket setup, fans were waiting for a thrilling showcase of the game for quite some time.

And the ongoing Test match marked the return of cricket in its purest form. England has won just one of their previous 17 Test matches, and as a result, are hanging at the bottom-most position of the World Test Championship points table. With just one year to go for the finale, they need to bag some important wins and get some crucial points. Meanwhile, Twitter loved the field set-up of six slips on the opening day.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: