Black Caps v England: How to conquer the mystique of Lord’s as touring side arrive with horror record at home of cricket
Sunday, 31 May 2026
What: Black Caps v England, first test. Where: Lord’s, London. When: 10pm Thursday (day one of five), Sky Sport 1.
For Tom Latham and his Black Caps test squad it’s a now-familiar routine: up St John’s Wood Rd, through the Grace Gate, off the bus and into the pavilion, up the stairs and into the away dressing room.
Welcome to Lord’s, the home of cricket where first-time players and even fans sport that faraway look of a kid at a theme park.
If the players’ hearts aren’t thumping by then they soon will be, as they gaze up to the honours board where the names D.J Mitchell, K.S Williamson, D.P Conway, T.G Southee (twice) and T.A Boult - yes, initials only - are recent etchings among a lineup of the sport’s greats.
All achieved cricket’s ultimate: a test century or five-wicket bag against England at the grand old ground (and Tom Blundell went within four runs, four years ago). There’s one other thing: none of the above have won a test there.
For a venue with a fair pitch, where visiting players generally lift for the occasion once they overcome nerves, it’s been remarkably difficult for some very good New Zealand test sides to win there. Just one from 19 attempts across the past 95 years, in fact: Stephen Fleming’s class of 1999 who went on to a 2-1 series victory.
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Thursday’s first test will be New Zealand’s 60th against their oldest rivals in England, stretching back to 1931. They’ve won just six, which shows their struggles aren’t confined to the hallowed turf of Lord’s even if their win percentage is poorest there.
Rewind 27 years to that victorious four-test series via the magic of YouTube, and the Channel Five daily highlights of the Lord’s test are a treat. Commentary doyen Richie Benaud marvels at the match-turning bowling spells of Chris Cairns and Dion Nash, then hands over the microphone to Ian Smith to call Matthew Bell tucking Andrew Caddick behind square for the winning runs. “A truly historic moment in New Zealand cricket history,” Smith says.
Since then, the Black Caps opened test series at Lord’s in 2004, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2021 and 2022 for four losses and two draws.
In 2015 Williamson scored 132 in New Zealand’s total of 523, then Boult took 5-85, but Ben Stokes stole the show with innings of 92 and 101. Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad were regular tormentors with the swinging ball in that period - except in 2021 when Devon Conway marked his test debut with an imperious innings of 200 against the legendary new ball duo.
That, and Southee’s 6-43, weren’t enough to force victory as the test petered out to a draw before they won in Birmingham, then beat India for a mind-boggling World Test Championship.
Tuesday will mark exactly five years since Conway first walked through the pavilion gates in his pads onto Lord’s. Rachin Ravindra was, in his words, a wide-eyed “21-year-old boy” on his first England tour and ferried drinks to his Wellington mate as he played the innings of his life in 2021.
“It was an incredible day, everything you dream of as a cricket fan,” Ravindra said.
And now, Ravindra will move to centre stage as New Zealand’s No 4, with the distinct feeling this squad can match up strongly with England - if all the visiting bowlers can stay on the park.
Of the likely Black Caps XI, Ravindra, Will O’Rourke and Glenn Phillips - or Dean Foxcroft if Phillips is held up by the IPL final - will be Lord’s test first-timers while Williamson plays his fifth, with a test batting average of 32 there.
How times have changed. In the 1999 series the Black Caps were away for four months having played the World Cup before their four-test series triumph. This squad filtered in from New Zealand or the Indian Premier League, some with minimal to zero competitive matches, and played one warmup match: the four-day test against Ireland.
Taking 20 wickets has been the headache for New Zealand teams past at Lord’s, and three bowlers who bypassed the Ireland test and have been carefully managed hold the key to a change of fortune.
The thought of O’Rourke and Kyle Jamieson teaming up as the twin towers of pace bowling is enough to get late-night viewers excited. New Zealand Cricket is, too, and planted the pair either side of Latham in the series promotional material, Jamieson menacingly tossing a red ball in the air.
Jamieson took 6-99 four years ago at Lord’s as Joe Root guided England to victory, and showed the potential of an aggressive, short-pitched barrage. In tandem with O’Rourke - with 39 wickets at 24 from 11 tests - the pair give New Zealand that vital point of difference England could miss at Lord’s without the express pace of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Brydon Carse.
Assuming Matt Henry recovers from his hamstring niggle, he and Nathan Smith will make up the best balanced and potent test attack since the days of Southee, Boult and Neil Wagner as they eye the substantial task of quelling Root, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook and Stokes.
England’s likely pace attack of Josh Tongue, Ollie Robinson and Gus Atkinson is handy but won’t strike fear into the visiting batting lineup who need more from Latham and Williamson than they got four years ago when Mitchell and Blundell performed the batting rescue acts.
Ravindra says one tradition will continue with fellow Firebirds Blundell and Conway. “We went for a walk at Regents Park the day before and just chatted cricket. Cricketers are superstitious people so I’m sure we’ll take a walk across Regents Park the night before that first test.”
Likely first test XIs
Black Caps: Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Glenn Phillips/Dean Foxcroft, Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Will O’Rourke.
England: Emilio Gay, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith, Rehan Ahmed, Ollie Robinson, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue.