New Zealand 342 for 3 (Latham 65, Young 55, Bracewell 51, Blundell 51) vs Sussex

“To get out there, on a nice surface, for all the guys to get a good hit and some time under their belts is always nice,” Luke Ronchi, New Zealand’s being coach, said afterwards.

“It’s those challenges you want to face when you first arrive. Not just him [Robinson], but all the guys got it to nibble around a bit and use that Dukes ball the way they can. For our guys to come from home to here, to face that and get through that challenge is what we’re after. It’s nice to bat through the day and a few guys get some runs.”

Alongside Robinson, Sussex fielded three 20-year-old seamers and one aged 23 – although this wasn’t a case of chucking in the kids for a friendly fixture, rather a reflection of the strategy at Hove where they have leaned heavily on their academy in recent seasons. The focus was understandably on Robinson, left out of England’s squad for the first two Tests over concerns about his match fitness, and he emerged unscathed – albeit wicketless – despite spending around an hour off the field either side of the tea break.

He began with an exacting new-ball spell of 6-3-6-0, bowling down the hill from the Cromwell Road End with four slips watching on. Young took a blow on the glove and both openers were made to look uncertain against Robinson’s nagging line and length.

He picked up again after lunch, delivering another five overs and coming close to a breakthrough, the rejection of his expectant lbw appeal from Hamish Rutherford’s third ball bringing a withering glance back at the umpire. Having returned to the field 20 minutes into the evening session, he delivered two more overs before the arrival of the second new ball, with a fourth spell extending his day’s work to 18-5-42-0.

Latham was the first to reach his half-century, soon followed by his partner – who then headed from the field to be replaced by Rutherford half an hour after lunch. Young made 331 runs at 55.16 from four matches with Northamptonshire before the start of the tour and is expected to keep his place at opener for the Tests, despite scores of 8, 3 and 0 in New Zealand’s most-recent series against South Africa, with Devon Conway – who scored a double-century on debut opening the batting at Lord’s last year – likely to move down to No. 4 below the returning Kane Williamson.