Remarkable Tongue is England's premier bowler - Agnew

Figure caption, England off to strong start with Tongue wickets BBC chief cricket commentatorPublished1 hour agoAfter all that happened during the Ashes, it was just so important England won this first Test against New Zealand - and that they won it emphatically. It was a very difficult pitch at Lord's but it is the same for both sides, and they came out on top. Speaking to both head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, I think they felt enormous relief. It has been a difficult time for all of them after the Ashes. It is a long time sitting and thinking and brooding. So to come and win the first game and to do it in a good style, that was the most important thing for them. What did it tell us? Not a huge amount. We know Ollie Robinson is a really, really fine bowler. We've always known that. But there is a lot on his shoulders, a lot of talk about him and his fitness, attitude and all those things. He has had a lot thrown at him over the past two years, so there is a lot of pressure on him. McCullum said that he had mentioned he was more nervous than on his debut. To come and take three wickets in your first over back, it's a dream come true. He will have more challenging days but that is how he bowls and it is a sort of consistency that England missed in the Ashes from their opening attack. I like this seam bowling attack as a whole. It has got more control. Robinson and Gus Atkinson both took five-wicket hauls during the match and are very skilled operators. Josh Tongue is England's premier bowler at the moment, though. I've got no doubts about that. His development is remarkable. Where he releases the ball from is made for Lord's with the slope. It is a very high action and he can just get the occasional one to hold up at the Pavilion End, as he did to great effect. He is moving on from being more than just promising. He is becoming dependable now and England need to keep him fit. Lord's pitch does not benefit Test format - Stokes Published1 hour ago'Comebacks don't get much better' - first Test ratings Published3 hours agoFigure caption, Highlights: Atkinson bowls England to 115-run victory over NZ As for the batting, England played the right sort of game here. If the Ashes had not have happened, they would have played more attackingly than they did. But because of the Ashes, they simply could not go out there and play Bazball and get rolled over. They just played really good cricket. What everybody has wanted from this team is to be adaptable and to be flexible and to not just play one-dimensional cricket, which is what they were doing. There are times you have to play a different way. They went down the route of the hard work, get in there and get over the line and that is absolutely the right way to do it. Whether that means there is a total reset, it is too early to tell but the reset is more about attitude as well. Emilio Gay coming out, getting runs and actually looking the part was another good sign. It is one Test match, very early days but he did not look fazed. Opening the batting is hard and he looked controlled. I like the way that he started to blossom a bit and you could see him gaining in confidence. He played some nice shots. To battle away and get 57 on that surface is a good effort. England begin Ashes rebuild with win over NZ Published4 hours agoEngland beat Black Caps in bowler's paradise at Lord's Stokes runs the next thing England needFigure caption, New Zealand take three wickets in five balls Stokes has had a pretty tough winter and, from my perspective, it is hard interviewing a losing captain all the time. But after this win, he was just really thoughtful. He spoke intelligently about Test cricket and the pitch. That was the pre-Ashes Stokes. Now you want him to get some runs because that is becoming a talking point. I hope the move to number seven works for him but he is not quite looking like the Stokes that walked out, bossed around, owned the crease and played the big shot. He does seem a bit more reserved with his batting at the moment. All he needs is a good innings. He just needs to get away, get a good score and he will be off again. That is probably the next thing that needs to be ticked off as far as this team is concerned - their captain back among the runs. New Zealand will be kicking themselves for four bad drops. In a low-scoring game, you cannot drop four catches like that. The rub of the green did not necessarily go their way with the technology either. But Tom Latham said they are not going to really take too much out of this match, they are just going to forget about it - that is probably the best thing from their perspective. Jonathan Agnew was speaking to BBC Sport's Sam Drury Get cricket news sent straight to your phone

Remarkable Tongue is England's premier bowler - Agnew

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Remarkable Tongue is England's premier bowler - Agnew

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