England v New Zealand first Test, Lord's: Andrew Strauss happy in Sky box - David 'Bumble' Lloyd

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We welcomed Andrew Strauss (right) into Sky’s commentary box on Friday, and he’ll be involved throughout the Ashes. It’ll be intriguing to get insights into his very distinct brand of planned method captaincy. That’s as opposed to the instinctive, thinking-outside-the-box approach favoured by Michael Vaughan and Brendon McCullum. Anyway, this Strauss fellow seems like a really nice lad. I’ll stick my neck out and say he’ll go far.

Absolutely trousered

I was having a drink in a pleasant hostelry in Primrose Hill on Thursday when a member of the public approached me and showed me some pictures of five gents he’d spotted at the Test. For some reason they were wearing blazers and red trousers, and this chap wanted to know what the correct collective noun was for such a gathering. After a couple of pints, we came up with a ‘hurrah’. It seems to do the job nicely.

Tourists made to feel at home

New Zealand's bowlers were at it again either side of lunch, embarrassing England’s batsmen with another controlled performance. Perhaps they felt at home, because I couldn’t help feeling Lord’s had shades of Dunedin — cold, uncompromising and with the pitch on the slow side. On the face of it, England haven’t fathomed out how to deal with New Zealand, who are better than their No 8 Test ranking suggests.

Jimmy joins the greats

So that’s 300 up for Jimmy, who joins Beefy, Big Bad Bob Willis and Fred as the only Englishmen to have reached the landmark in Tests. Hats off. Those are some seriously good bowlers. Jimmy’s got great control now — inswingers, outswingers and straight-on-ers. And he couldn’t have chosen better conditions in which to get the record. But I’ll tell thee this: he were quicker when he were at Burnley.

Well done, Jimmy: Sir Ian Botham and Bob Willis congratulate Anderson at Lord's

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