The Battle Royale's at Lords since 2000

It's fair to say that England in May is a changeable place and rain does spoil the spring occasion leading into a summer of cricket.  As can be seen by the image (left) there are times when that Liquid Gold falls from the sky and puts in jeopardy cricket matches of the highest level.

But does it?  If one trawls through Cricinfo match results for Lords there is a clear indication that most tests played there at this time of year are result matches.  Below is the summary of May Tests at Lords:


Year       Touring Team       Result       Margtin

2000       Zimbabwe            Eng Win   Innings and 209 runs
2001       Pakistan               Eng Win   Innings and 9 runs
2002       Sri Lanka             Drawn
2003       Zimbabwe            Eng Win   Innings and 92 runs
2004       New Zealand        Eng Win    7 Wicket
2005       Bangladesh           Eng Win    Innings and 261 runs
2006       Sri Lanka             Drawn
2007       West Indies          Drawn
2008       New Zealand        Drawn
2009       West Indies          Eng Win     10 Wicket
2010       Bangladesh           Eng Win     8 Wicket
2012       West Indies          Eng Win     5 Wicket

The match in 2011 was played in early June.

Of note, it's plain to see England fosters minnow cricket in May, barring Pakistan and Sri Lanka (and some would say WI) as the bigger series are played over the height of summer.  And that's evident in the record fashioned in May, no losses in 13 years.  Will this NZ test be the first?