The Hindu : Bad day for England

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 24, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Bad day for England

WELLINGTON, MARCH 23. New Zealand fought back strongly on the third day of the second cricket Test today as England collapsed after lunch to 280 all out.

At the close New Zealand was 70 for one from 36 overs in reply but will clearly need to force the pace in the rain- shortened match if it is to square the three-Test series.

On a day overshadowed by news of the road accident death of their England team-mate Ben Hollioake, the tourists went to lunch at 199 for four with New Zealand on the back foot.

But the New Zealanders struck back well in the afternoon session, capturing the final six wickets for 81 runs. The first after lunch came with the score at 221. Hollioake's Surrey team-mate Mark Ramprakash fell when he chopped an Ian Butler ball on to his stumps for 24 and on the same score the mainstay of the England innings, captain Nasser Hussain, was out for 66.

Hussain attempted his favoured sweep to Daniel Vettori but mistimed the shot and the ball appeared to either hit the back of the bat or the gloves and ballooned to Nathan Astle at second slip.

From Hussain's unhappy reaction, he obviously thought the ball had missed both bat and glove and hit him on the forearm.

Andy Flintoff had scored just two when he mistimed a shot backward of square off Butler and got a leading edge that gave Chris Drum the easiest of catches running in from mid-on.

In the following Butler over Ashley Giles was caught behind off a no-ball, the second England reprieve after Hussain was caught by Butler off a Vettori no-ball shortly before lunch.

Giles scored 10 before he cut a ball straight to Craig McMillan at point off Butler and Andy Caddick struck a couple of fine blows before he was undone by some clever bowling by Chris Martin.

Martin bowled two bouncers in succession then gave Caddick half-volley which he dispatched straight to the hands of Mark Richardson at mid-off.

A fighting last wicket stand between wicketkeeper James Foster and Matthew Hoggard realised 30, with Hoggard last out for seven and Foster not out 25, including the only six of the innings when he went down the pitch and lofted Drum over long-off.

The New Zealand bowlers were rewarded for some aggressive bowling, with the most successful being Butler in his second Test. He was less expensive than in the first Test, taking four for 60.

In New Zealand's reply, the sadly out-of-form Matthew Horne barely managed to hit the ball off the square and rarely middled it in his 30-ball stay for eight. He hit a boundary in Caddick's first over, but that was through the slip cordon and it was perhaps a mercy Caddick undid him with a yorker before the misery continued.

Lou Vincent joined Mark Richardson and should have gone when he was three. Ramprakash dived on to the pitch from short forward square to take what looked to be a legitimate catch from Vincent's bat via the pad, but umpire Steve Dunne denied England's appeals.

From then it was barely two runs an over as the pair brought up their 50 partnership from 150 balls. At the close Richardson was on 29 and Vincent 30.

New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming said later that while pleased with New Zealand's position, he would have liked to have seen a bit more productivity in the final session.

``We were tested all the way,'' he said. ``If we can score a bit more quickly in the morning we may be able to give ourselves enough time to test England in the second innings.''

- Reuters

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