The New Zealand cricket team was in England from 4 May to 27 June 2013 for a tour consisting of two Test matches, three One Day Internationals and two Twenty20 International matches. The New Zealand team also competed in the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy between the ODI series and T20I series. The tour followed England's tour of New Zealand two months earlier.

Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at the international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings in which players have to play until they get all batsmen out; the match ends when all but one of the batsmen of the opposing team are out. It is scheduled to last for up to five days with 6 hours of play each day. A minimum of 90 overs are scheduled to be bowled per day making it the sport with the longest playing time. In the past, some Test matches had no time limit and were called Timeless Tests. The term "test match" was originally coined in 1861–62 but in a different context.