For four days it looked like New Zealand had put that crushing loss in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 final to Australia behind them, and were on their way to another outstanding performance. Then,, just like that, Ben Stokes came to the party, so did Alastair Cook and England suddenly turned from zeroes to superheroes with Lord's witnessing an absolute classic.
If the second Test between England and New Zealand at Headingley is even half as exciting, we are in for a cracker, but much will depend on how the Kiwis bounce back from what would have been a really difficult loss to swallow.
"Our team is a better side than other teams I have been involved with coming over here," New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum, who has moulded this Black Caps side into one of the best, told the cricket board's official website. "Our guys are hurting a lot after that last Test match.
"We felt we did enough to win the Test and there is a steely resolve in our team to turn that around. The beauty of having only three days to turn it around is that the opportunity comes quicker than it normally does. We will play a really good game of cricket."
New Zealand have tasted all of the recent success due to their aggressive brand of cricket. But sometimes, particularly in Test cricket, that over-aggressiveness can come back and knock you over, like it probably did against England, even if the hosts played some outstanding cricket on that final day.
McCullum, though, insisted there is absolutely no way New Zealand will temper down their brand of cricket just because the first Test match got away from them.
"I feel it [the aggressive brand of cricket] is our best opportunity to win Test matches and series," McCullum added. "We went down the other day, but I thought we played some pretty good cricket throughout that Test match. Credit to England. They were good enough to run us down.
"I make no apologies for how we play the game. We need to play an aggressive and innovative style of cricket. We've seen that in the last six series, we've been undefeated playing that way, so it gives us our greatest opportunity of success."
For England, this win was a much-needed one, and one that got the critics off their back for a while at least. England were heavily criticised, and rightly so, after a disastrous World Cup campaign and an underwhelming show in the West Indies, but with Cook getting runs and also leading the team well, the pressure has eased just a bit.
Stokes showed how playing with freedom can help you win games, and if the rest of the England side – and Cook being the chief of them – can do exactly that as a unit, they should be able to hold court against New Zealand again, and also Australia, when they come visiting for the Ashes.
This Test match could also be a huge one for Cook from a personal standpoint, with the skipper just 32 runs away from crossing Graham Gooch's all-time runscoring record of 8900 runs for England.
"It will be a great moment if it happens," Cook said. "But there will only ever be one Graham Gooch, and he is England's greatest batsman. I wouldn't put myself anywhere near in his class, but it would be a great moment."
Team news: England: While Adam Lyth did not have the greatest of Test debuts, England are not expected to make any changes to their playing XI.
New Zealand: Corey Anderson is a major doubt with a back injury, while wicketkeeper BJ Watling could also miss out with a knee problem, which could mean a Test debut for Luke Ronchi.
Expected lineups: England: Alastair Cook, Adam Lyth, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Mark Wood, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum, Luke Ronchi, Mark Craig, Doug Bracewell, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Trent Boult.
Where to Watch Live
England vs New Zealand 2nd Test Match, Day 1 is scheduled for a 11 pm BST (3.30 pm IST, 6 am ET, 10 pm NZ time) start with live coverage in India on Star Sports4. The match can also be watched via live streaming online on Starsports.com.
Viewers in the UK can flip over to Sky Sport2 to watch England vs New Zealand Live, while the live stream options are on Sky Go and Watch Sky Sports.
Audience in the US can catch the match live on ESPN3 and Watch ESPN, while audience in New Zealand can do so on Sky Sport4 and Sky Go NZ.
