Attack the best form of defence for spirited England

By Tom Hayward LONDON (Reuters) - Attack was the best form of defence for England as they recovered from a sorry start against New Zealand with aggressive counter-attacking batting to pass 350 on the first day of the first test at Lord's on Thursday. The home of cricket was shrouded in sunshine but the mood was engulfed in gloom as England collapsed to 30 for four -- losing debutant Adam Lyth, captain Alastair Cook, Gary Ballance and Ian Bell inside the first hour. If England's collapse was worryingly familiar, so too was the sight of Joe Root (98) scoring freely while Ben Stokes clubbed a swashbuckling 92 to rescue the hosts who reached 354-7 at the close. "Yes it was (a conscious decision to attack New Zealand)," Root told Sky Sports. "We just went out there with the mentality of trying to counter-attack. "We thought they'd been very aggressive at us but there were plenty of gaps and plenty of opportunities to score and that's what we're going to do. "We were in a lot of trouble so we wanted to make sure we were busy and we were assertive with the way we played. "We really tried to put them back under pressure as much as we could. Once we got going it was very hard to stop us scoring before lunch. "At that point in the game we wanted to take the initiative to put it back onto them and make it hard for them to settle and make them know that if they miss their length we're going to put them under pressure." Stokes hit one six and 15 fours in his 94-ball innings while England's cricketer of the year Root -- who averaged over 100 in tests last year -- played with typical vim and vigour to wrestle the authority from New Zealand. The lethargy of the morning was replaced by fluent, inventive and assertive batting as England tamed New Zealand's previously rampant pace attack with regular boundaries and quick running between the wickets. Root and Stokes fell short of centuries -- to end their fifth-wicket stand of 161 -- before Jos Buttler (67) and Moeen Ali (49 not out) carried the baton in the evening session. (Reporting by Tom Hayward; editing by Justin Palmer)