The Athletic has launched a Cricket WhatsApp Channel. Click here to join.It was an answer that revealed the pressure England were feeling going into the first Test of the summer after their miserable winter in Australia.“I’m not going to lie,” said captain Ben Stokes after his side had wrapped up victory against New Zealand by 115 runs at Lord’s before lunch on the fourth day. “I knew how big this game was in terms of the result and how it would have been received externally if it didn’t go well.“It’s great to win. I won’t be properly happy until I get to go upstairs and share a beer with the boys, but we’ve won the first game of the summer and there’s no negativity in that.”It was a far cry from the early days of ‘Bazball’ when entertainment was everything. Instead, it was a measure of what was at stake during a Test of just 166 overs — the second shortest in Lord’s history, with less than two full days’ play — because of a sub-standard pitch. Huge variable bounce and excessive seam movement reduced batting to little more than a lottery.So, while the pressure may have slightly eased, what have Stokes and England actually learnt from a bowler-dominated but dramatic first Test win in this three-match series?England have found an opener made of the right stuffStokes told Emilio Gay his debut was at the “high end” of the challenge that awaits him in Test cricket, and a battling half-century in the second innings was certainly worth a three-figure score in the less demanding conditions he will more often than not encounter.Gay is clearly made of the right stuff and applied himself perfectly to the perils of facing the high-calibre New Zealand attack in an opening stand of 52 in the second innings with his fellow Northamptonshire product Ben Duckett that did much to win the game for England.Certainly it is difficult to imagine Zak Crawley, the man he replaced, grafting away for 95 deliveries in such demanding circumstances, defending balls on the stumps diligently but playing expansively at anything loose. The flick off his legs through mid-wicket for four off Nathan Smith that Gay produced just after reaching 50, holding the pose for just long enough afterwards, was the shot of a man at home in this lofty environment.Emilio Gay ended his Test debut with the highest score of the match, courtesy of a second-innings 57 (David Rogers/Getty Images)One half century does not make a Test career and already it is possible to see some technical issues that Gay will have to address if he is to have an extended run at the top of the order. He was squared up too easily at times with both feet pointing down the pitch, so he had to push his bat out in front of himself.But England can already congratulate themselves on preferring the 26-year-old to his younger and possibly more naturally gifted Durham team-mate Ben McKinney in their major change since the Ashes.“Emilio is better off getting this out of the way early so he can understand how tough Test cricket is,” Stokes told journalists. “For him to make a significant contribution at the top of the order will do wonders for his confidence and make him realise how hard that step up can be.“He was a huge reason we could put up a pretty big target for New Zealand.”They can trust Ollie RobinsonEngland’s other big change to their losing Ashes line-up saw Ollie Robinson brought in from the cold, and they could not have asked for more than the new Sussex captain taking three wickets in his first over back in Test cricket in more than two years.Conditions were made for Robinson’s accurate and skilful bowling at Lord’s, but there was enough evidence that he has learned the lessons from his exile when England expected him to become fitter and more mature, with his seven wickets in the game and best Test innings figures of 5-39 earning him the player of the match award.Ollie Robinson took seven wickets on his first Test appearance in 28 months (Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)The big test for Robinson will come when the pitch is flatter and he will have to return for third and fourth spells of the day, and it was noticeable that he was operating at below 80 miles per hour for much of the four days at Lord’s.That did not affect his potency here, but it may be an issue in the tougher moments to come. For now, England can again be pleased they backed a bowler who appeared destined never to play for them again.“Ollie’s skill has never been in question but there were just a few other things that we’d spoken about behind the scenes that we wanted him to improve,” said Stokes afterwards. “The most pleasing thing is the way he’s spoken this week. It would be easy to rest on your laurels when everything has gone so well but he has said this is only the start.“The more Ollie Robinson has an England shirt on his back, the better for us.”Smith has come through his big testIt was easy to forget just how brilliant Jamie Smith was when he smashed India for an unbeaten 184 at Edgbaston last year. His struggles with the bat in Australia were painful at times, and he was far too timid behind the stumps through a woeful series.But England had no doubts they wanted him to remain as their batter-keeper and gave the Surrey man a vote of confidence by promoting him in the order to No 6 at Lord’s.He may not have made a big score, but Smith’s second innings 39 in a seventh-wicket stand of 57 with Gus Atkinson was just as crucial to England’s win as Gay’s half century. And his glovework was excellent in very difficult conditions, with variable bounce at a Lord’s ground that is often tricky for keeping. That included standing up to Robinson.There is a school of thought that Smith will eventually become a top-order batter without the gloves but, for now, his dual role suits England perfectly. They were right not to look elsewhere — in James Rew’s direction, for example — for their wicketkeeper.Jamie Smith catches New Zealand’s Nathan Smith (Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)The captain was more like his old selfThere was an odd atmosphere around Lord’s ahead of this Test. Stokes looked weary and wary in his pre-match media conference and basically said he was fed up of talking even though he had not talked publicly for five months.Questions remained as to whether he was still aligned with coach Brendon McCullum or whether he would follow up his “there is no place in my dressing room for weak men” comments in the Ashes by further retreating into his shell.But while the move to No 7 did not help batting that looks worryingly in decline, Stokes was much more like his old self in the field. The 35-year-old’s decision to call for a helmet and send Gay to short leg after just two balls of Robinson’s first over of the match immediately paid dividends with the key wicket of Kane Williamson.And there were imaginative field placings, such as two leg slips, and the encouragement of Smith to stand up to Robinson, like Alex Carey to Michael Neser and Scott Boland during the winter.There was still the odd ill-conceived short ball ploy to the New Zealand tail when an attack of the off-stump was working perfectly well, but there was enough to suggest that one of the best captains in England’s Test history has got his mojo back.Are Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum realigned? (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)A different McCullum?The biggest question in England’s big reset was whether Brendon McCullum really changed his ways and, as he says, remains “authentic” to himself in the process.There was evidence here that the “refinement” and “smart” cricket that McCullum has pledged to add to his attacking principles can indeed work.For a start, McCullum can barely stop talking to the media and the ECB’s in-house staff — he was a lesser-spotted coach to the press before now — but, more importantly, he looked to be proactive from the sidelines, using the walkie-talkie he now employs to talk to Stokes in the field and overseeing his batters in finding a much better blend of attack and defence.Not once was the coach seen with his feet up on the Lord’s balcony and, to use his favourite boxing analogy, England jabbed throughout the Test as well as threw haymakers.It is early days and New Zealand could have easily won this match had they not squandered five big chances, but this is a start to Bazball 3.0.England can be expected to name the same winning team for the second Test at the Oval on June 17, even if Jofra Archer is finally available. And they will be grateful for that small mercy after the misery of the Ashes.