'How fresh is this' - Sourav Ganguly in awe of England's pace attack at Lord's in 1st NZ Test

The ongoing Test match between England and New Zealand kicked off on June 2 (Thursday) at Lord’s. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat first. England came into the series with new appointees in Brendon McCullum as the Test coach and Ben Stokes as the captain, following the series loss to West Indies.

Anderson, after being dropped from the team in the previous Test match against West Indies, announced his return in a grand manner. Anderson bowled six overs with five maidens, picking up wickets of both the Kiwi openers, Tom Latham and Will Young, for 1 run each. Both the batters were caught off an outside edge at slip by Jonny Bairstow.

Former India batter and President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Sourav Ganguly, like many others, enjoyed watching Anderson’s opening spell. The BCCI President took it to Twitter to show his admiration for the English bowlers’ opening spell. In reference to Young’s dismissal, he wrote that there is “nothing better in sport” than watching the ball swing at the start of a Test match.

Sourav Ganguly in awe of England’s pace attack against New Zealand

How fresh this is . Red ball swinging start of a test match ,nothing better in sport with cricket in whites ..morning of a test .@bcci@ECB pic.twitter.com/3blP2EBLsD

— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) June 2, 2022

In what was the star all-rounder’s first game in charge as the Test captain of England, the hosts set up an aggressive field of five slips and a gully. The senior pacers James Anderson and Stuart Broad, alongside debutant Matthew Potts, were rampant right from ball one of the Test match until the very end of the opening session. It was a thoroughly entertaining first session for a neutral; not so much for a New Zealander. 

Broad picked up the wicket of Devon Conway, and 23-year-old Potts dismissed Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, and Tom Blundell. This was also Broad’s comeback game after being left out in the previous Test match. Going into the lunch break, New Zealand were languishing at 39 for six wickets, courtesy of English pacers’ ruthless new ball bowling, and got wrapped up at 132 runs.