England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat against New Zealand in the first Test at Lord's on Thursday. This was the first of a two-match series. jdg/bc

English county championship scores on Wednesday: Division One At Derby Derbyshire 158-6 (W Madsen 63) v Sussex At Trent Bridge Nottinghamshire 273-9 (S Mullaney 68, S Meaker 4-70) v Surrey At Taunton Middlesex 293-8 (N Dexter 73 no, C J Rogers 57, J Denly 55, J Overton 4-65) v Somerset At Edgbaston Warwickshire 128 (J Troughton 65 no, L Plunkett 5-32) v Yorkshire 11-0 Division Two At Cardiff Glamorgan 231 (J Allenby 77, S Walters 67, D Masters 5-44)

Stuart Broad believes England's top-order batsmen hold the key to victory in their upcoming two-Test series with New Zealand. While it is a truism that pace bowling all-rounder Broad and the rest of the England attack must take 20 wickets if they are to win any Test, big scores from the team's batsmen give bowlers runs to play with and put pressure on the opposition. That was certainly the case during England's victorious Ashes tour of Australia in 2010/11 where they won 3-1 on the back of a trio of innings victories.

Probable teams and officials for the first Test between England and New Zealand at Lord's starting on Thursday: England (from): Alastair Cook (capt), Nick Compton, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Jonathan Bairstow, Matt Prior (wkt), Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Tim Bresnan New Zealand (from): Brendon McCullum (capt), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Dean Brownlie, Peter Fulton, Martin Guptill, Mark Gillespie, Tom Latham, Bruce Martin, Hamish Rutherford, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, BJ Watling (wkt), Kane Williamson