Kyle Jamieson describes New Zealand’s comeback as “still in the game”

After Kyle Jamieson nicked a short ball from James Anderson down the throat of Matthew Potts at deep fine leg five balls after the lunch break on the first day of the English Test match, it appeared doubtful that New Zealand would be ahead at stumps.

However, it was Jamieson’s bowling after the tea break that sparked England’s all-too-familiar collapse, leaving the game finely matched at the end of a 17-wicket day at Lord’s.

With 43 in a 59-run opening partnership, Zak Crawley had seized charge early in England’s innings, but Jamieson quickly picked up on his proclivity for drives. Jamieson stayed full and enticed the England opener into another, getting an outside edge through to Tom Blundell behind the stumps on the fifth delivery of his spell.

Jamieson kept probing from the Nursery End, and after a refused lbw review against Ollie Pope in his third over, he got more reward in the fifth, as the pressure mounted on England’s new No. 3, who was caught behind after a scratchy 7 off 27 deliveries.

Jamieson remarked, “It was wonderful to establish some rhythm, I felt fine for that stretch, it was just nice to get into the game.” “It wasn’t ideal when we went out to bowl, but we knew we had some time to get back in the game.”

Tim Southee, Colin de Grandhomme, and Trent Boult went right in the door after Jamieson had unlocked it, as England lost five wickets for eight runs in the space of 28 balls, falling from 92 for 2 to 100 for 7. The Blackcaps were back in the game, and Jamieson stated that they had always believed they were one or two wickets away from putting pressure on the hosts.

“We still felt like we were in the middle of the game.” We knew we had to bowl well, but things in this town move at a breakneck pace. We’ve seen it throughout the first half of the day, so we knew we had a chance if we put the ball in favourable areas.

“We figured if we got one, we could get two and put some pressure on them.” I believe we kind of stuck with it, with our lengths, with our regions, and we were able to reap some benefits from it and come back into the game.”

After the top order failed to ignite, New Zealand talked about 130 as a target during the lunch break, which they achieved thanks to an unbroken 42 from de Grandhomme and a sparkling cameo from Southee.

On a sun-drenched morning at the Home of Cricket, Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to bat, and Jamieson was among many who couldn’t explain how it ended up being a day for the bowlers.

When asked about the toss, Jamieson remarked, “I’m not sure – I’m not very good at reading pitches either.” “I’m not really sure what the go was there – certainly a couple wickets dropped.” It didn’t appear that way at first, but events transpired as they did.

“We were pretty calm, but it wasn’t unfolding the way we had hoped it would.” We spoke about 130 [runs], which doesn’t sound like a lot, but given where we were, we figured if we could get there and get a few wickets today, we’d be right in the game.”

Jamieson also brushed aside the suggestion that New Zealand was unprepared for this match. Their first warm-up encounter against Sussex was rained out two days before they lost to a County Select XI – another match in which the top-order crumbled.

“We had two games, plenty of opportunities to react and adapt – I believe we were as good as we could be heading into this game.”

While New Zealand has a chance to take an unexpected first-innings lead, or at the very least limit the hosts to a slim lead, Jamieson admitted that if they are to win at Lord’s for the first time since 1999, they cannot afford another bad batting showing. “In the second innings, we’ll have to battle hard to get a lead and give ourselves something to bowl at,” he said.