[Lord Snooty]

England v New Zealand

The 1st Test Match
Thursday May 21st - Monday May 25th
at Lord's
starting at 11:00

Teams news (courtesy of Cricinfo):


Adam Lyth will be England's 666th Test cricketer - and has no qualms about the number of his cap - so becoming the sixth opening partner for Alistair Cook since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012. Mark Wood may also be handed a debut in place of Chris Jordan as England aim to add greater cutting edge to their pace attack.


England (probable): 1 Alastair Cook ©, 2 Adam Lyth, 3 Gary Ballance, 4 Ian Bell, 5 Joe Root, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Ben Stokes, 8 Jos Buttler (w), 9 Mark Wood, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson.

Martin Guptill all but assured himself a recall, for his first Test since Headingley 2013, with his 150 against Worcestershire and is set to open alongside Tom Latham as Hamish Rutherford misses out. Brendon McCullum always likes a specialist spinner so Mark Craig's place is secure leaving the third frontline quick as the final question mark. The suggestion is that Matt Henry will make his debut, preferred to the workhorse Neil Wagner, who would be able to consider himself unfortunate to miss out.


New Zealand (probable): 1 Tom Latham, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Brendon McCullum ©, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 BJ Watling (w), 8 Mark Craig, 9 Matt Henry, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Trent Boult.