Kane Williamson eyes Lord’s swansong with Black Caps’ Dad’s Army versus England in first test
Thursday, 4 June 2026
What: New Zealand v England, first test. Where: Lord’s, London. When: Thursday 10pm (NZT), Sky Sport 1.
The daddy of the Black Caps batting line-up will have assistance from many other senior citizens at Lord’s.
Kane Williamson will begin his final test at the home of cricket in London on Thursday night aiming to help New Zealand to just their second victory at the fabled ground in 19 test appearances in the opening game of their three-match series versus England.
Alongside the 35-year-old in New Zealand’s top-six batters will be four team-mates aged 34 or older - captain Tom Latham (34), his opening partner Devon Conway (34), Daryl Mitchell (35) and wicketkeeper Tom Blundell (35).
Left-hander Rachin Ravindra, at 26, is the only member of the top six who wasn’t listening to Gnarls Barkley at high school.
Williamson made his initial test appearance at Lord’s in 2013 in his 24th game for NZ’s red-ball side. On Thursday, he’ll earn his 110th cap.
“It's always a special test,” Williamson said.
“I think if you look over your career, you only get… well depends on how long you play for… but yeah, I've played for a while and you only get a handful of opportunities to come to Lord's and play.
“The way they maintain the tradition is quite special. It's unique to Lord's; the history that surrounds it, the effort that goes into, to all of that, you come here and you, you notice those differences to all other grounds.
“Walking out to the pitch through the long room, bumping into a few members, and obviously the lunches are iconic. There's a number of things that are memorable here.”
The right-hander has managed only one century in the eight test innings he’s played there, averaging 32 compared with a stellar career average of 54.58.
So another ton to add to the 33 he has under his black cap would massively boost the visiting side’s chances of going one-up and bolstering their World Test Championship standing. They made a strong start with two wins from three against West Indies at home in December, but face a tough year with nine tests against England, India and Australia.
Williamson needs another 539 runs to become just the 16th player to reach 10,000 in tests, and Black Caps fans will be hoping the country’s greatest batter will continue to feature in the test side over the next nine months.
Coach Rob Walter indicated earlier this week that allrounder Glenn Phillips would be ready to fill the No 7 spot in the first test, and the pace attack is likely to consist of Matt Henry, Will O’Rourke, Kyle Jamieson and Nathan Smith.
The experienced Black Caps batting crew won’t have to deal with Jofra Archer, with England’s quickest bowler ruled unavailable after finishing his IPL season.
Instead, Ollie Robinson is set to play his first test for more than two years, alongside Josh Tongue, with either Gus Atkinson or Sonny Baker the third quick, with captain and allrounder Ben Stokes the other seamer.
Shoaib Bashir, who was overlooked for England’s Ashes drubbing, will provide off-spin while Emilio Gay will make his test debut as Ben Duckett’s opening partner, replacing Zak Crawley.
“We're very comfortable with the group that we've got,” former NZ captain and current England coach Brendon McCullum said.
“We're confident in what we're going to pick. That doesn't guarantee us anything, but it gives us what we think will allow us the best opportunity against New Zealand at Lord's. We want to stick to what we think is going to be required in these conditions against this opposition.”
The prospect of rain looms on each day of the five-day encounter.
New Zealand (likely): Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Will O’Rourke.
England (likely): Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Ben Stokes (capt), Ollie Robinson, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.