Lord's pitch used for low-scoring England-New Zealand Test labelled 'unsatisfactory' by ICC

The International Cricket Council has rated the pitch used for the first Test between England and New Zealand as "unsatisfactory" with the 'Home of Cricket' also getting a demerit point. The opening game of England's home summer witnessed the Ben Stokes-led hosts going 1-0 up in the three-Test series with a 115-run victory that was achieved before lunch on Day 4.

The match, however, might have finished inside two days had it not been for bad weather, with batters from both teams struggling to adapt on a Lord's wicket that offered "excessive seam movement" and "variable bounce".

"There was plenty of excessive seam movement throughout the Test and the ball also kept extremely low on several occasions," match referee Andy Pycroft said after the first Test.

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"The bounce was variable throughout as 16 wickets fell on the first day and 17 on the second. There was simply an over-balance in favour of ball against bat caused by the pitch," the former Zimbabwe batter added.

'Unsatisfactory' is the second-lowest rating that a venue can get for its surface, behind 'unfit'. The Lord's, however, is in no danger of any further sanction from the Dubai-based governing body as it does not have any previous demerit points on its record.

The Marylebone Cricket Club, owners of the Lord's, later admitted that the wicket had fallen short of expectations while captain Ben Stokes stated that such surfaces were not helpful for Test cricket.

Pacers run riot at 'Home of Cricket'

England had been bowled out for 140 after they were invited to bat by Black Caps captain Tom Latham, but reduced the visitors to 29/6 in reply and eventually bowled them out for 113, collecting a handy 27-run lead.

England posted 226 – the only 150-plus score of the match – on the board in their second innings, setting New Zealand a target of 254 – fairly challenging on the wicket that was prepared for the series opener.

The Kiwis, however, collapsed like a house of cards once again, with only three of their batters entering double figures – two of them, Devon Conway (41) and Glenn Phillips (44 not out), getting dismissed in the 40s.

The first Test witnessed a five-wicket haul being collected in each innings, with Ollie Robinson being adjudged the Player of the Match for his seven-wicket haul across the match (5/39 and 2/38).

The other pacers entering the Lord's Honours Board were New Zealand's Kyle Jamieson (5/62, first innings) and Nathan Smith (6/70, second innings) and Robinson's teammate Gus Atkinson (5/30, second innings)