‘That is not Test cricket’: Michael Vaughan blasts ‘unacceptable’ Lord’s pitch vs. New Zealand as bowlers wreak havoc originally appeared on Cricket News.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan says the pitch is not up to standard and is unfair to batters.
- Thirty-three wickets fell in two days at Lord’s.
- New Zealand need 199 more runs with five wickets remaining.
Vaughan slams Lord’s pitch after 33 wickets fall in two days of England vs New Zealand test
Michael Vaughan has thrashed the Marylebone Cricket Club after 33 wickets went down in the first two days of the England and New Zealand Test match at Lord’s.
The combination of unpredictable bounce and excessive lateral movement off the surface left batters from both sides looking helpless.
16 wickets went down on a rain-affected opening day and a further 17 in 79 overs on day two. Rain played spoil sport on day three as five more wickets fell in less than 10 overs.
Vaughan, speaking on BBC Test Match Special, ripped apart MCC for producing a sub-standard pitch on the occasion of the 150th Test match at the iconic venue.
“It’s not a test for the bowlers, because it has been too easy. This isn’t a fair balance between bat and ball,” Vaughan said.
“The MCC [Marylebone Cricket Club] know this pitch isn’t up to standard. I feel sorry for the batters. This is the best place to play cricket. I feel very fortunate that I didn’t have to bat on many pitches like this.”
Vaughan pointed to the dismissal of Kane Williamson as evidence of just how little ability can do when the surface is this unpredictable.
“We’ve just [seen] Kane Williamson, one of the great technicians, the ball thudded into his back pad. There was nothing he could do about that,” he said.
“If I’m watching that from the New Zealand dressing room, I’m not allowing that to happen. I’m going to go out and play a few shots.”
What England need do on Day 4 of the Test match
Vaughan’s advice to England was to keep things “simple”, as the pitch would do most of the talking. He argued the bowlers need only land the ball in the right area and let the surface take care of the rest.
“England will be thinking they need to keep it very simple,” Vaughan added.
“It’s not a challenge for the bowlers; they just need to run up and hit a length. You know the pitch will do the rest. That’s not Test cricket, that is not skill. That’s not testing physicality or skillset.”
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Michael Atherton echoed Vaughan’s thoughts and labelled the Lord’s pitch as “substandard.”
“Is this a bad test pitch? It’s a poor pitch. It’s a substandard pitch, particularly for a landmark 150th test, quite a lot of focus on this ground beforehand,” he said on Sky Sports.
“And you know, that was the very first ball of the game, actually, which just sent out one or two alarm bells. It didn’t carry through. So there’s been too much inconsistent bounce.
“Batters will back themselves against swing and sideways movement; up and down movement is much more difficult to cope with. So that is not ideal over the first two days of a game. Now there’s a whole context to add there.”
“That’s not good” ❌
Michael Atherton shares his thoughts on the ‘poor pitch’ at Lord’s 💭 pic.twitter.com/tKs9HPv3GJ
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 6, 2026
The Cricket News Opinion: Fans expected better from MCC
When 33 wickets fall in two days, it speaks volumes about the pitch. If rain had not set in, then the match could have been over in just over two days.
Test cricket is supposed to test both batting and bowling.
England deserves credit for whatever result follows, but the conditions have made it far harder to assess what this match actually tells us about either team.
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