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Cricket News: Will Trent Boult play the Lord’s Test against England? | An update on Trent Boult’s availability for 1st Test against England at Lord’s

Trent Boult is reportedly unlikely to play in the first Test against England at Lord’s starting on Thursday. Boult, who played a key role in Rajasthan’s push for the IPL title, has been named in New Zealand’s 15-man squad for the match, but a gap of just three days between the IPL Final and first Test puts Boult in doubt.

New Zealand will play three Tests against England starting on June 2 at Lord’s. The Black Caps will be looking to replicate their dream tour of England last year, where they beat the hosts 1-0 and also went on to win the World Test Championship Final against India.

Will have chats with Trent Boult about Lord’s Test – Gary Stead

New Zealand head coach Gary Stead said that he is constant contact with Trent Boult about his availability for the Lord’s Test. Stead said that managing resources is part and parcel of world cricket right now, particularly given that the IPL takes up two months of the calendar with 10 teams now participating.

“Trent arrives in later today [Monday] and we’ll see how he scrubs up but we’ve had conversations leading up into this,” Stead said. “It’s part of the world and the way it is right now and I guess with the complexity of putting schedules together and then you have the IPL on top of that, it just adds another layer to it all.”

Should Boult not be picked for the first Test, the Black Caps will still have a number of pace bowling options at their disposal. One member of the squad who is putting his hand up is Matt Henry, who was outstanding in his appearance against England last year where he took 3/78 and 3/36 in a player of the match performance in Birmingham.

Wake up call for New Zealand after tour game defeat

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for New Zealand’s bowlers against the First Class Counties XI. The Black Caps lost comfortably by seven wickets, with their pacers drawing blank in the second innings.

Having Boult on deck will help New Zealand, but the step up to red ball bowling takes time to adjust to. Should he be unavailable, pacer Matt Henry believes the Black Caps are still well equipped to take on England at Lord’s.

“They [First Class Counties XI] played really well and I think that’s exactly what you want in games like this. You want to be playing against some guys that are really in form and Ben Compton is one of those guys. It was good for us bowlers to get out there and work on a few plans and get that time in the legs which has been really crucial,” said Henry.

In related news, batsman Henry Nicholls is likely to miss the first Test due to a calf injury.

ENG vs NZ 2022 Test Series Schedule

• 1st Test, Lord’s, 2-6 June
• 2nd Test, Nottingham, 10-14 June
• 3rd Test, Headingley, 23-27 June