Emilio Gay described his Test debut as “a bit of a whirlwind” and “like a dream” after his half-century on the second day against New Zealand at Lord’s made him the game’s top scorer and helped to put England in the driving seat. By stumps the tourists were 36 for three, still 218 runs from victory.
“It was a surreal day yesterday and then today was a bit of a whirlwind,” the Durham opener said. “I think the whole couple of days felt like a bit of a dream: 40,000 fans at Lord’s, tough conditions, getting my cap, family being here. I’m trying to lap it all in and enjoy it.”
Gay contributed 57 off 95 balls to England’s second-innings 226, though his dismissal precipitated a wild period in which Harry Brook, Joe Root and Ben Stokes all followed in the space of 10 balls and for the addition of one run. “I was kicking myself a little bit because the conditions were perfect for a set batter,” he said. “I’d done the hard work, faced [nearly] 100 balls and the timing of it just felt a little frustrating. It felt like a real shift in momentum when I got out. The clouds were coming over, the lights were on and it gave them a bit of a boost.”
On the opening day Gay had hit his first delivery as a Test cricketer, a full toss from Kyle Jamieson, for four – “The night before there was a lot of scenarios played out in my head and that wasn’t one of them” – before finding himself in the middle of a chaotic opening to the tourists’ first innings, taking a diving catch at short leg to dismiss Kane Williamson during Ollie Robinson’s three-wicket opening over.
“When Robbo was on a hat-trick and I was at short leg and the crowd was as loud as they’ve been I was just looking around,” he said. “Sonny Baker came on to midwicket and I was looking at him and he was looking at me. Then we spoke after and he was like, ‘Can you believe this? This is actually mental.’ When I’m fielding I’ve just been looking around – I think fielders think I’m daydreaming but I’m not, I’m just looking at the crowd and trying to lap it all in.”
Nathan Smith took six wickets in England’s second innings, shouldering some of the burden with Matt Henry’s involvement limited by his back spasms on day one. “I don’t know if any of you have had back spasms but it’s not very nice,” Smith said. “It’s amazing that he can run in and bowl when he can’t pull his pants up or tie up his shoes. So the stuff he did today out there was huge for us.”
