And now taking you up to the tea interval I'll hand over to Lily Savage

And now, taking you up to the tea interval, I'll hand over to Lily Savage." We should have had more faith. Actually, our fears began to subside as soon as we found out that they had hired Richie Benaud. For if the prospect of a BBC without Test cricket was mildly depressing, it was nowhere near as unsettling as the prospect of Test cricket without Benaud. But tampering with our TV coverage is a different matter entirely. They inferred that they planned to make it younger and sexier, to the point where it seemed a cert that Eddie Izzard would join the commentary team "Errrr.. nice outswinger Errrr.. nice eyebrows too. It is with the professional sob-sisters of press and politics who rage against boxing to parade their own nobility.Ken Jones. CHANNEL 4, it is generally agreed, have made a fine job of their inaugural Test match.

Some of us were a bit alarmed by all their bold talk of dragging cricket into the 21st century Tampering with the ball we can accept It is, after all, a venerable practice. However, there is no doubt that Probert had more to offer than the interviews he conducted for his former employers.A friendship formed with the ill-fated Michael Watson, who came close to death after losing to Chris Eubank, eventually brings Probert to the realisation that "there can be no place in a civilised society for an activity provided exclusively for the entertainment of the masses which places its main protagonists in clear danger of losing their lives."Some of us who have written about boxing for many years know where Probert is coming from We've been there The quarrel here is not with Probert. The writer's dilemma is how to justify an activity that enabled Ian Probert's hero, Muhammad Ali, to become the most identifiable personality on earth yet consigned him to a shadowed middle age.Woven into the autobiographical fabric of Rope Burns is the conflict that arises between Probert's enthusiasm for boxing and the realisation that he is on dangerous ground.There is no small amount of vanity in Probert's apparent belief that some pretty squalid personal experiences will hold enough interest to justify a boxing theme, but he is never less than honest when confronting bleak verities about the sport that should never be referred to as a game.Since the high point of Probert's brief career at ringside was a stint at the Sunday Sport, he can hardly have felt on course to emulate the outstanding authors who have written about boxing. 50: 83 min, 21.2 overs.Umpires: M J Kitchen (Eng) and R E Koertzen (SA).NEW ZEALAND WON BY 9 WICKETS.Compiled by Jo King. Rope Burns: One Man's Reluctant Obsession with Boxing By Ian Probert Headline, pounds 14.99, HardbackAS THE one sport in which the fundamental objective is to render your opponent unconscious, boxing cannot avoid coming under fire from the medical lobby and people who insist it has no place in a civilised society.While there are more hazardous activities available to mankind, boxing is so explicit that any reporter with a conscience finds it difficult to suppress a sense of complicity whenever a grim incident occurs in the ring.Everyone who writes about the most basic, natural and uncomplicated of athletic competitions conspires in boxing's madness.

Innings closed: 3.04.NEW ZEALAND - Second inningsM J Horne lbw b Caddick 2655 min, 43 balls, 2 foursM D Bell not out 2689 min, 72 balls, 1 four*S P Fleming not out 533 min, 24 ballsExtras (b2, nb1) 3Total (for 1, 89 min, 23 overs) 60Fall: 1-37 (Horne).Did not bat: C D McMillan, N J Astle, R G Twose, A C Parore, C L Cairns, D J Nash, D L Vettori, G I Allott.Bowling: Mullally 5-0-21-0 (one spell); Caddick 10-4-18-1 (3-2-1-0, 7- 2-17-1); Tufnell 8-2-19-0 (nb1) (one spell).Progress: Fourth day: Tea: 15 for 0 (Horne 11, Bell 4) 6 overs. Innings closed: 2.03.Vettori 50: 124 min, 94 balls, 7 fours.ENGLAND - Second inningsM A Butcher c Astle b Vettori 2085 min, 76 balls, 4 foursA J Stewart b Vettori 35139 min, 97 balls, 5 foursM R Ramprakash c Parore b Astle 24106 min, 76 balls, 4 foursG P Thorpe b Cairns 75 min, 5 balls, 1 fourA Habib c Astle b Allott 19127 min, 104 balls, 3 foursD W Headley c Fleming b Allott 1268 min, 53 balls, 2 foursC M W Read lbw b Nash 37123 min, 84 balls, 4 foursA R Caddick c Fleming b Allott 45149 min, 96 balls, 6 foursA D Mullally c Twose b Cairns 1015 min, 13 balls, 2 foursP C R Tufnell not out 523 min, 13 balls*N Hussain absent hurt 0Extras (b5, lb3, nb7) 15Total (424 min, 101.4 overs) 229Fall: 1-55 (Butcher), 2-71 (Stewart), 3-78 (Thorpe), 4-97 (Ramprakash), 5-123 (Headley), 6-127 (Habib), 7-205 (Read), 8-216 (Mullally).Bowling: Allott 16.4-6-36-3 (nb3) (7-3-14-0, 6-3-10-2, 3-0-12-0, 0.4- 0-0-1); Cairns 25-6-67-2 (nb1) (4-0-18-0, 6-2-10-1, 2-1-1-0, 3-1-2-0, 10-2-36-1); Vettori 31-12-62-2 (19-8-43-2, 2-1-2-0, 10-3-17-0); Nash 25- 9-50-1 (nb3) (8-4-9-0, 4-2-5-0, 5-2-10-0, 3-0-16-0, 5-1-10-1); Astle 4- 2-6-1 (2-1-2-1, 2-1-4-0).Progress: Third day: 50: 71 min, 17.3 overs Tea: 55 for 1 (Stewart 32) 21.3 overs 100: 195 min, 48.1 overs Close: 107 for 4 (Habib 11, Headley 2) 54 overs Fourth day: 150: 314 min, 80 overs New ball: Taken after 80 overs at 150 for 6 Lunch: 175-6 (Read 24, Caddick 24) 85 overs 200: 375 min, 92.1 overs. He said when he woke up at four o'clock yesterday morning with the pain of his broken finger and added: "I don't want to sound like a wimp but it was very painful."It is nothing to the pain he will be feeling over this Lord's loss.ENGLAND'S WOEEngland continue a miserable sequence at Lord's in the last 10 yearsJun 89: Australia won by 6 wktsJun 90: New Zealand drew with EnglandJul 90: England bt India by 247 runsJun 91: West Indies drew with EnglandAug 91: England bt Sri Lanka by 137 runsJun 92: Pakistan won by two wktsJun '93: Australia won by 62 runsJun '94: New Zealand drew with EnglandJuly 94: South Africa won by 356 runsJune 95: England bt West Indies by 72 runsJune 96: India drew with EnglandJuly 96: Pakistan won by 164 runsJune 97: Australia drew with EnglandJune 98: South Africa won by 10 wktsJuly 99: New Zealand won by nine wkts.Total record: P15, W3, D5, L7.LORD'S SCOREBOARDEngland won tossENGLAND - First innings 186 (N Hussain 61, A J Stewart 50).NEW ZEALAND - First innings(Friday: 242 for 6)D L Vettori c Thorpe b Tufnell 54137 min, 106 balls, 7 foursA C Parore b Caddick 1239 min, 27 balls, 1 fourC L Cairns b Caddick 3173 min, 42 balls, 5 foursD J Nash c Mullally b Tufnell 633 min, 23 ballsG I Allott not out 115 min, 10 ballsExtras (b1, lb24, w2, nb13) 40Total (521 min, 119.1 overs) 358Fall (cont): 7-275 (Parore), 8-345 (Cairns), 9-351 (Vettori).Bowling: Mullally 27-7-98-2 (w2) (10-4-36-1, 4-1-10-1, 5-1-12-0, 8-1- 40-0); Caddick 34-11-92-3 (nb2) (5-1-11-0, 7-4-12-0, 5-0-29-0, 3-1-7-0, 8-4-25-2, 6-1-8-1); Headley 27-7-74-3 (nb8) (8-1-33-1, 9-4-10-0, 8-2-18- 2, 2-0-13-0); Tufnell 27.1-7-61-2 (nb3) (4-1-10-0, 10-2-32-0, 4-0-6-0, 9.1-4-13-2); Butcher 3-0-7-0; Ramprakash 1-0-1-0 (one spell each).Progress: Third day: 250: 385 min, 88.1 overs 300: 443 min, 99.2 overs 350: 496 min, 112.5 overs Lunch: 350 for 8 (Vettori 53, Nash 1) 113 overs. "But I don't think a loss at this stage of my captaincy will do any harm at all. All it shows is that we have a lot of work to do."But this is a hard man, who takes defeat even harder. "Probably," he quipped "after a midnight scan on Wednesday."Hussain is not going to let the defeat get him down "It may sound funny," he said. We have to get players under one contract and one contract only."He did manage to extract some humour from a miserable week when he explained that a decision on his fitness would be left as late as possible to allow his fractured finger more time to heal.

I was not overly impressed at being rung up at eight o'clock on Wednesday evening to be told that one of my strike bowlers had just been ruled out."I am sure there was a very good reason behind it, maybe Surrey wanted Tudor to have some peace of mind, but I hope it does not happen again. "Even if I am not fit I will be heavily involved in selection," he promised "It will certainly be longer than the last one. We will go through each individual in the side and discuss whether bringing in someone else will help to make us stronger."He is certainly not afraid to face the issues and indeed there is a steely side to the England and Essex captain His reaction to the Alex Tudor affair exemplified that "That is an area that has to be looked at. But there is work still to be done there as well."He certainly expects a lengthy selection meeting next weekend when the 13 or 14-man squad for Old Trafford is decided upon. But we must keep working at our batting, on our technique and make sure that as good players, which we are, we produce big scores."However having said that I am very proud of my bowlers, in both games, for the way they have kept coming in. In the second innings we also lost wickets."I can talk to the players all I like, but in the end it all comes down to individual responsibilities."I will not stick a dagger in them I know they are good players They have done it in the past.