Few players in the history of English cricket have divided opinion like Stuart Broad.

The Nottinghamshire bowler - who was once reckoned to be a future genuine all-rounder - has always been a hugely frustrating mercurial talent, and that shows no signs of changing any time soon.

As a case study, the first Test at Lord's demonstrated the best and the worst of Broad: a hapless three-ball duck, starkly contrasted by a fluent 25-ball 26 later in the match; a wayward and sluggish one for 64 in the first innings, followed by a quite breathtakingly potent seven for 44 in the second.

Every time his

It has long been said that England have an over-reliance upon James Anderson, but at what point does it become a major concern?

Steven Finn filled his boots in cleaning up the New Zealand tail with four late wickets on day three at Lord's, but it continues to be Anderson or no one when it comes to the big early wickets.

Stuart Broad struggled through 21 overs for the solitary - albeit hugely valuable - scalp of Brendon McCullum, and he went at three runs per over, while Finn's economy rate was a less than auspicious 4.20.

Anderson's, as is usually the case, was under two runs per over, and

James Anderson became England's fourth bowler to take 300 Test wickets when he had Peter Fulton caught behind this afternoon - and the first in almost 30 years.

The Lancastrian, still only 30, then bagged his 301st victim later in the day, and now needs just another 83 scalps to become England's leading Test wicket-taker, eclipsing Sir Ian Botham.

Fred Trueman lies next on the list, and Anderson could yet move past his total of 307 Test wickets in next week's Headingley Test - Trueman's home ground.

It was no coincidence that Anderson was England's stand-out bowler on day two against New

His path has already been plotted; his career trajectory seemingly certain. Joe Root is being groomed for the England captaincy, just as the present incumbent Alastair Cook was assuredly moved into the position.

The latest step in Root's surely inevitable rise to the very top will come next week at Leicester when the 22-year-old leads the England Lions in what will be New Zealand's final warm-up game ahead of the first Test at Lord's, and it could hardly be a more comfortable fit.

As far as indications of future promotions go, this is pretty clear. Root's progression has been swift and

Dan Housego and Hamish Marshall batted their way into the record books as Gloucestershire reached 300 for three in their opening LV= County Championship Division Two match against Essex at Chelmsford.

Both scored centuries during which they broke the previous highest fourth-wicket partnership record for Gloucestershire in matches against Essex which had stood for 106 years.

They have so far put on 229 runs, beating the 153 stand featuring Gilbert Jessop and Tom Langdon at Leyton in 1907.

Housego will resume on day two on 124, a career-best score, while Marshall will seek to add to his 120.

The dramatic decline of the Australian men's cricket team has been well documented, particularly over the course of the recent ill-fated tour of India, but the women's team are very much on a high.

Australia's women beat England to win the World Twenty20 final in October, before adding the World Cup in India last month.

While the men's team are desperate for the next young superstar to come through the ranks as their side's slump continues on the international stage, the women may benefit from the rise of a hugely exciting talent. OK, she's only three years old, but if you're good enough

No-one wins on the sub-continent.

No-one fails to win in New Zealand.

Except England.

It has been a topsy turvy winter with popular logic reversed. Captain Alastair Cook said a first Test series win in India in 27 years was on a par with the Ashes triumph of 2010-11.

But England's failure to win in New Zealand is almost as disappointing and certainly the worst tour since they contrived to lose a series to a West Indies side in 1999 with Devon Smith and Lendl Simmons opening the batting (mainly due to a crazy day in Jamaica when they were bowled out for 51 and lost the first Test).

Thanks to

The two captains: Alastair Cook and Michael Clarke

After Australia suffered a crushing 4-0 series whitewash defeat in India following the farcical scenes of 'homework-gate', and given England have produced desperately poor performances against the lowly New Zealand, it's time to analyse which team should be more concerned ahead of back-to-back Ashes series later in the year.

Feel free to add your own analysis and opinions at the bottom of the page...

* Five reasons why England are in trouble *

1. Injuries to key players

Very few sides in the history of the game could cope with injuries to a group of key players, and England don't have a huge