For a coach, the not knowing must be the hardest part. Last week Sir Alex Ferguson spoke of his deep faith that his Manchester United players would respond to the challenges in front of them as they entered the climactic stage of the football season. Not blessed with either the kind of experience or quality that Ferguson can draw on, John Bracewell must have been nervous yesterday afternoon as he sat down to watch his young batsmen face up to the test of England’s new-ball attack in perfect bowling conditions. He cannot have known what to expect.

Given their reasonable form in the warm-up matches, the New Zealand coach might have been hopeful. Set against that was the knowledge that there were two players making their Test debuts in the lineup and three others of next to no experience in early-season English conditions. Would they be overawed by the occasion? Would their decent form count for anything? To put it bluntly, would they freeze?

Midway through the afternoon, at 104 for five, it appeared that Lord’s was not so much inspiring as intimidating Bracewell’s young team. Aaron Redmond and Jamie How, New Zealand’s thirteenth opening partnership in four years, had come and gone cheaply while Ross Taylor’s bizarre and frenetic 20-ball innings had betrayed the nerves that were running through the team. Only James Marshall, battling hard for 104 minutes before edging to first slip, had shown any composure at the crease.

It was a time for strong men with strong minds, for those not easily intimidated, and none come stronger than Brendon McCullum. With a run-a-ball innings of 97, one that mixed rare brilliance and occasional good fortune, he restored some balance to proceedings after James Anderson had threatened to run through New Zealand with some incisive new-ball bowling.

When bad light brought a premature end to play at 5.45pm, New Zealand were 208 for six. England will still feel that they had the better of the shortened day, but without McCullum, New Zealand would already be staring defeat in the face. As it is, they will return today with Jacob Oram still at the crease and undefeated on 23, having taken confidence from the performance of one of their few world-class cricketers.

Four years ago McCullum was denied four short of a Test-match hundred at Lord’s batting at No 3, but those runs were scored in very different circumstances and conditions. After morning drizzle yesterday, and once the coin had landed favourably, Michael Vaughan, the England captain, could not get the words ‘We’ll bowl’ out quick enough. The pitch, white and firm during the two days of preparations, was suddenly green about the gills and damp to the touch.

McCullum’s innings, then, although just one run more than four years ago, was more valuable, but still the honours board eludes him. Facing up to Monty Panesar, with a hundred and more beckoning and the field spread wide, he tried to work a straighter, quicker ball through the on side only for it to sneak through his defences via his back pad. He stood for a moment, unable to believe that on a day when the ball had swung, nipped and darted around, he had missed a straight ball. It was an unworthy end to a wonderful innings.

It was, though, the type of innings that Daniel Vettori knew his man could play when the New Zealand captain described McCullum’s promo-tion to No 5 as a chance for him to develop into a “world-class middle-order batsman”.

This was not classical batsmanship for the connoisseurs but cricket for those who appreciate brave and, at times, reckless risk-taking. Occasionally advancing down the pitch, sometimes moving outside off stump, McCullum was always asking questions of the bowlers on a day when the bowlers might have expected to do most of the examining themselves.

Certainly, Ryan Sidebottom, after 24 wickets in the winter against these same opponents, would have been looking forward to bowling in the conditions as a man might look forward to dining in his favourite restaurant, fully aware that there were all kinds of juicy morsels on offer. Whether the curse of the sophomore slump (second-season syndrome) will hit him remains to be seen, but he was not at his best yesterday, spraying the ball from the Nursery End and clearly uncomfortable at the Pavilion End.

Instead, Peter Moores, the England head coach, will be pleased that Anderson showed his consistent side, bowling sharply and with excellent rhythm, and that Stuart Broad continued his upward progression until a late mauling from McCullum. For Bracewell, with top-order failures and runs for McCullum and Oram, he probably did not learn anything that he did not already know.

New Zealand: First innings

J M How c Ambrose b Anderson 7

(34min, 18 balls)

A J Redmond c Cook b Anderson 0

(7min, 5 balls)

J A H Marshall c Strauss b Broad 24

(104min, 71 balls, 4 fours)

L R P L Taylor c Collingwood b Broad 19

(24min, 20 balls, 3 fours)

†B B McCullum b Panesar 97

(173min, 97 balls, 2 sixes, 13 fours)

D R Flynn b Anderson 9

(36min, 32 balls, 2 fours)

J D P Oram not out 23

(94min, 62 balls, 3 fours)

*D L Vettori not out 5

(9min, 11 balls, 1 four)

Extras (12 b, 8 lb, 1 w, 3 nb) 24

Total (6 wkts, 52.1 overs, 244min) 208

T G Southee, K D Mills and C S Martin to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-2 (1.5; How 2); 2-18 (7.3; Marshall 10); 3-41 (12.3; Marshall 14); 4-76 (23.2; McCullum 18); 5-104 (31.2; McCullum 32); 6-203 (50.1; Oram 23).

Bowling: Sidebottom 18.1-5-50-0 (9 fours; 5-1-14-0, 1-0-3-0, 6-2-14-0, 6-2-19-0, 0.1-0-0-0); Anderson 12-3-42-3 (nb 1, w 1; 5 fours; 7-1-23-2, 3-2-4-1/tea/2-0-15-0); Broad 15-3-70-2 (nb 2; 1 six, 10 fours; 4-0-13-1, 5-2-21-1, 5-1-32-0, 1-0-4-0); Collingwood 3-1-11-0 (1 four; 1-1-0-0, 1-0-6-0, 1-0-5-0); Panesar 4-1-15-1 (1 six, 1 four; 1-1-0-0, 3-0-15-1).

Scoring notes: First day: Start delayed by rain until 1.20pm (toss at 11.50am; lunch taken at 12.30pm; 80 overs left). Tea 109-3 (34 overs, 161min; McCullum 36, Oram 0). Bad light ended play at 5.43pm - 27.5 overs unbowled (37.5 lost in the day). Stumps 208-6 (52.1 overs, 244min; Oram 23, Vettori 5).

England: A J Strauss, A N Cook, *M P Vaughan, K P Pietersen, I R Bell, P D Collingwood, †T R Ambrose, S C J Broad, R J Sidebottom, M S Panesar and J M Anderson.

Umpires: S A Bucknor (West Indies - 123rd Test) and S J A Taufel (Australia - 51st).

Replay umpire: N J Llong.

Fourth umpire: J W Lloyds.

Match referee: R S Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

Tests to come: Second (Old Trafford) May 23-27. Third (Trent Bridge) June 5-9.

Compiled by Bill Frindall