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London - England captain Alastair Cook was satisfied with his team's performance after they beat New Zealand by 170 runs in a fluctuating first test at Lord's on Sunday.
Widely criticised following the recent 0-0 series draw in New Zealand against a side ranked six places below them, England produced a disciplined bowling display to skittle the touring side for 68 in their second innings.
"It was a good test win but it's important to keep a lid on it," Cook told a news conference."We knew we wanted to hit the ground running this summer."
England, who meet Australia in a five-test Ashes series starting in July, looked to be heading for a comfortable win when Joe Root and Jonathan Trott shared a third-wicket partnership of 123 on Saturday
But New Zealand, inspired by Tim Southee, claimed the last eight wickets for 54 runs to give themselves a chance of only their fifth test victory in England.
"I haven't experienced a game which has ebbed and flowed as much," Cook said. "New Zealand came back hard at us and put us under pressure. We'd have liked a few more, we thought 250-260 would be a tough chase."
Stuart Broad led the England attack on the final day, claiming test-best figures of seven for 44 after James Anderson took five wickets in the first innings.
"Stu has done that for us on numerous occasions," Cook said. "They (Broad and Anderson) have played a lot of cricket and their experience is invaluable. They know how to get batsmen out in different conditions."
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum tried to focus on the positive aspects of his team's performance.
"It's pretty tough to explain at the moment," McCullum said. "Within an hour the game was turned on its head.
"Today was undoubtedly a step backwards for us but we can look back on what we did well. For a long time we competed strongly against a very strong team in England."
The second test starts at Headingley in Leeds on Friday and McCullum said the New Zealanders would let the dust settle before considering their options.
Wicketkeeper BJ Watling suffered a knee injury at Lord's and spinner Bruce Martin a calf problem.
"We have plenty of options, the batters have done very well for us in recent times but not today, obviously," McCullum said.
"One poor performance doesn't make us panic," he added. "It would be foolish to throw everything away after one hour of mayhem. We need to make sure our confidence doesn't get too low because of what happened today."
