The China Mail - Stokes says Lord's pitch 'not ideal' as England hammer New Zealand

New Zealand, set 254 to win, were dismissed for just 138 before lunch on the fourth day, with paceman Gus Atkinson taking 5-30.

The Black Caps total, however, was an improvement on their first-innings 113, with recalled seamer Ollie Robinson returning his Test-best figures of 5-39.

A pitch of variable bounce in what was the 150th Test staged at Lord's -- the most at any ground -- made life difficult for batsmen.

There were only two individual fifties in the whole match at the north London venue, both from England, with Harry Brook making 56 and Emilio Gay an admirable 57 on Test debut in the hosts' first and second innings respectively.

By the time Gus Atkinson dismissed Matt Henry to finish things off on Sunday, just 996 balls had been bowled in four innings –- the fewest for a completed Test at Lord's, the self-styled 'Home of Cricket', since 1888.

The first day alone saw 16 wickets fall, with Stokes telling reporters after England went 1-0 up in a three-match series: "If you are there on day one, you have had a great time.

"Wickets falling, balls flying everywhere… with 16 wickets and 200 runs being scored, it's a good day out.

"But it was an inconsistent pitch. As a batter you never feel in. As someone who believes Test cricket is the best format and should never disappear, that is not ideal...It's not just the case that players have lost the ability to dig in."

- 'Not good enough' -

Former England captains Nasser Hussain was scathing about the quality of the pitch, telling Sky Sports: "I can tell you as a batter, nothing is worse (than) up-and-down bounce.

He added: "This ground has got so much going for it...but the bit in the middle (the pitch) is the most important bit and it's not good enough at the moment."

Michael Vaughan, who succeeded Hussain as England skipper, told the BBC: "This isn't a fair balance between bat and ball."

In a separate Daily Telegraph column, Vaughan, called on Lord's owners Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to start digging up the square, pitch by pitch, each off-season.

Meanwhile MCC secretary and chief executive Rob Lawson acknowledged the problem after Sunday's play, saying in a statement: "We hold ourselves to the highest standards and are naturally frustrated when a surface falls short of those expectations.

Lawson, who cited unusually high May temperatures followed by heavy rain in the immediate build-up to the match as reasons for the sub-standard surface, said: "We recognise that the pitch for this Test has shown more variable bounce than we would have wanted.

And with next month's inaugural women's Test at Lord's, between England and India, and a men's Test against Pakistan still to come this season, Lawson added: "We fully recognise the need to act quickly."

I.Ko--ThChM