A wicket has fallen every 25 balls across the first two days of a Test match dominated by fast bowlers at Lord’s, with Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan leading criticism of a pitch characterised by its variable bounce.

New Zealand went into the third day needing another 218 runs to beat England with seven wickets in hand, with their fourth-innings target of 254 looking a steep ask after scores of 140, 113 and 226 in the first three. Neither captain has used a single over of spin across the first two days with atmospheric conditions and an up-and-down surface making seam almost unplayable.

Officials at the MCC, which owns and runs Lord’s, have made conscious efforts to improve its pitches in recent years. These have included “steaming” surfaces – using steam to sterilise the soil – last winter in a bid to add pace and bounce to the square, but the move appears to have had minimal positive effect on the evidence of the first two days of this Test match.

Hussain, the former England captain, described the pitch as “substandard” and said that batting was “impossible” on account of the variable bounce. He cited Jacob Bethell’s dismissal – clean bowled by a ball from Matt Henry which shot underneath the toe of his bat and into his off stump – as a prime example, saying he had “no chance at all” to keep it out.

“Look at the very first delivery of the Test match, [which] rolled along the ground,” Hussain said on Sky Sports’ coverage. “All the way through, it has lacked pace and when it has got quicker, then suddenly it starts misbehaving up as well. I can tell you as a batter, nothing is worse [than] up-and-down bounce – and then you’ve got seam movement, and the slope.

“It means batting becomes impossible with the quality of fast bowling that is on show… This ground has got so much going for it. The attention to detail at this ground in the periphery is absolutely spot-on, but the bit in the middle is the most important bit and it’s not good enough at the moment.”

Vaughan, who succeeded Hussain as captain, said that he “felt sorry for the batters” who had to play on such an unpredictable surface. “Test match cricket is meant to be a test,” Vaughan told the BBC’s Test Match Special. “It’s not a test for the bowlers this week, because it’s too easy… You want a fair balance. This isn’t a fair balance between bat and ball.”

Vaughan cited the struggles of Joe Root and Kane Williamson – who made 27 runs between them in four innings – as evidence that the pitch was unplayable. “You’re talking [about] great players that are going out to bat and making it look so difficult – because it is,” Vaughan said.

“The MCC know that this pitch isn’t up to standard… I actually feel sorry for the batters, having to come out at the home of cricket. This is the best place to play cricket, and I just feel very fortunate that I didn’t have to bat on many pitches like this.”

Nathan Smith, who took six second-innings wickets for New Zealand, said that overhead conditions had a major impact on how the pitch behaved, with heavy cloud cover for the majority of the first two days.

“I think it [the pitch] is certainly helping,” Smith said. “There’s a little bit of variable bounce as you guys have seen, and the ball is seaming around.

“I feel like it is a different wicket, though, when the sun’s out. It feels like it’s pretty tough work [for bowlers] when the sun’s out and the ball gets a little bit soft, so hopefully there’s a bit of sun tomorrow.”