England openers survive dimming light after Sidebottom sinks Kiwis

Published on Friday 16 May 2008 23:11

Home side keep upper hand after day of gloomy interruptions at Lord's

POOR light wrecked the second day's play of the first npower Test between England and New Zealand at Lord's.

When England openers Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss walked off to significant boos from the crowd, at 5.40pm, it was the fifth stoppage.

England were no doubt wary of losing a wicket in the gloom, and thus undoing their hard work of getting to 68 without loss.

Earlier, Ryan Sidebottom held a monopoly on the second-day wickets as New Zealand were finally dismissed for 277. Left-armer Sidebottom, England's newly-crowned player of the year, took all four to fall.

He finished the innings off when New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, who made 48, misjudged a delivery and was bowled leaving it alone,

giving the Nottinghamshire seamer figures of four for five from 10.1 overs.

It was a stop-start affair, however, due to the London gloom, and England were faced with the same tricky conditions in which Michael Vaughan, pictured right, put the Black Caps into bat on Thursday.

Just two balls had been sent down in the afternoon session when visibility was first deemed inappropriate and, despite an interlude of 21 balls, the players were back in the pavilion again following a second ruling by the umpires.

Sidebottom had made a stunning return after the first break in play, bowling Tim Southee with the first ball back. He had made a similar impression with the second new ball, following a confident leg before wicket appeal by knocking over Kyle Mills' off-stump with a full, swinging delivery.

Sidebottom claimed the first breakthrough following stubborn resistance from New Zealand's seventh-wicket pair of Jacob Oram and Vettori.

After going wicketless for the majority of the opening hour of the second morning, left-armer Sidebottom turned Oram around to send the ball to first slip.

Andrew Strauss juggled the catch before clutching the ball under his chin to complete a well-planned dismissal.

Sidebottom and James Anderson had been forcing Oram onto the back foot with some short stuff and the giant left-hander was static on the crease as he attempted to turn to leg.

The only previous scare for the Black Caps, resuming on 208 for six,

had come in the third over when Vettori drove Sidebottom to mid-on, where Stuart Broad produced a half-stop.

His diving effort deflected the ball to Vaughan at mid-off, by which time Vettori was stood halfway down the pitch urging seventh-wicket partner Oram to run – but by the time Vaughan managed to return the ball to wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose, the all-rounder had successfully scampered home.

Vettori prospered at number eight, carving out his runs carefully before opening his shoulders when joined by last man Chris Martin. Three times in one James Anderson over, Vettori guided the ball to the off-side boundary as the New Zealanders compiled what appeared to be a competitive first-innings score.

Meanwhile, Lancashire cricket manager Mike Watkinson has confirmed that Andrew Flintoff is likely to be unavailable for all of England's Test series with New Zealand through injury.

The all-rounder had been in outstanding form with the ball on his return from ankle surgery but complained of discomfort in his side while bowling against Durham last week.

Lancashire sent Flintoff for a scan, after which he was told to rest for two to three weeks, thus missing the first Test.

Flintoff's injury was expected to rule him out of the second Test against New Zealand but his absence is now thought likely to stretch to the third and final match in the series, which starts at Trent Bridge on 5 June.

The 30-year-old would now need to prove his fitness in Lancashire's LV County Championship match against Yorkshire at Headingley, which begins on 28 May, to push for inclusion, but Watkinson admitted it was unlikely he would play a part.

"I don't want to be making predictions but I don't think he will be back for the Roses game," Watkinson said. "Maybe Fred will be back against Nottinghamshire on 6 June, but it is early days. He is taking it easy this week. It is too early for me to make any comment.

"He'll need rescanning and reassessing. I'm just looking at the timescale of two or three weeks' recovery, and a week to get match fit, and that's where it takes us."

England coach Peter Moores had confirmed this week that Flintoff, if fit, would have been included in England's squad for the first two Tests.

But the earliest he is now likely to feature is the Twenty20 international against the Black Caps at Old Trafford on 13 June. England then face a five-match one-day international series against the Kiwis which starts at Chester-le-Street on 15 June.

Watkinson added that he felt Lancashire's prompt action in identifying Flintoff's side strain at the end of their Championship match against Durham last week prevented further potential injury problems which could have seen Flintoff break down in the Test match.

"We nipped what could have been a serious injury in the bud," he said. "By acting so quickly, two or three weeks' rest should be enough to cure it."