CRICKET: "New Zealand dawdle to draw" was hardly enough to rate a mention in the local morning papers with the Oscars dominating the front and golfer Craig Perks the back after his win at Sawgrass. Maybe we all expect too much after Christchurch.
England gave it their best shot though with another incendiary display of hitting from Andy Flintoff, and putting the Kiwis under continuous pressure with the ball.
With a declaration delayed because of doubts about the light, however, there then proved little on offer from the pitch. One catch of significance went begging - by Jamie Foster once more - Steve Dunne, the umpire, proved inept to the last, and Nasser Hussain clearly missed a trick by ignoring Matthew Hoggard for most of the day when trying just about everything else from his main bowlers to make some inroads.
Hoggard was given his chance late in the piece and responded with two rapid and worthy wickets. But by then New Zealand had all but completed their task of seeing through the final session and finished on 158 for four, Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan batting through the last hour together before the teams called it a day.
Andy Caddick, quite rightly, was declared the man of the match for his outstanding first-innings bowling. But, try as he might, he was unable to add to his tally in the second innings, the only successes going to Ashley Giles, Flintoff and Hoggard.
It was, however, not his bowling but Flintoff's batting that provided the highlight of yesterday's play. The all-rounder's maiden Test century at Christchurch has unleashed the whirlwind.
He is a man now with licence to fail because, once in a while, he will devastate. Sent in to force the pace, after Mark Butcher had been caught in the day's third over, he was brutal.
Some batsmen, those at the top end of the market, dominate, fewer still - Viv Richards, Ian Botham and Adam Gilchrist spring to mind - have had the capacity to intimidate bowlers. Flintoff manages it by the sheer physical presence that comes with being a big confident athlete. He belongs in international cricket now.
The New Zealand bowling, left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori included, went to pieces under an onslaught that brought Flintoff a half-century bettered in terms of balls received by only Botham twice (26 and 32 balls respectively), Kapil Dev (30), Hansie Cronje (31) and Richards (32).
Ten fours were clubbed as well as sixes off Vettori and, high back over his head, Chris Martin. Flintoff's was 55 minutes of mayhem in which he scored 75 before chipping a gentle return catch to Vettori from the leading edge as he tried to turn to the on-side. His stand with Hussain for the third wicket, Marcus Trescothick having gone for 88, produced 82 runs of which the England captain made 12.
The declaration at 293 for four left New Zealand 356 to win in 86 overs with an hour to bat before lunch. As a challenge it was negligible for, with the exception of Trescothick, Butcher and later Flintoff, no batsman had been able to play an innings of substance with confidence at any sort of pace.
But this has also been a surface on which any batsman intent on surviving would be hard to chisel out. Mark Richardson went to a swirling catch by Graham Thorpe with lunch imminent, and Matthew Horne was caught by Foster off the under edge while cutting.
Then came two key moments. Shortly after lunch, when he had just four, Vincent shuffled forward to Giles and pushed a catch to Butcher at silly-point from pad and glove only for Dunne to deem it not out. Then, not long after he had come in, Fleming, on one, edged a catch low to Foster's left and saw the keeper make his ground but push the chance away. Fleming was to bat for a further 34 overs in making 11, one of the slowest Test innings on record.
Just six overs in 117 bowled from Hoggard seemed to suggest that England had not thought this through. Hoggard was the one bowler in the side who could reverse swing the old ball and his fourth delivery duly darted in to Vincent to trap him lbw for 71. Two overs later, he ripped a yorker through Fleming and uprooted his middle-stump, only the TV wires stopping it cartwheeling back to the keeper. He at least made a point.
Overnight:
New Zealand 218 (M H Richardson 60, L Vincent 57; A R Caddick 6-63, A F Giles 4-103).
England 280 (N Hussain 66; I G Butler 4-60) and 184-1 (M E Trescothick 77 no, M A Butcher 57 no).
ENGLAND Second Innings
M E Trescothick c Richardson b Vettori 88
M A Butcher c Martin b Drum 60
A Flintoff c & b Vettori 75
N Hussain not out 13
G P Thorpe not out 1
Extras b5 lb13 nb4 pens 0 22
Total 4 wkts dec (65 overs) ... 293
Fall: 1-79 2-194 3-209 4-291
Did Not Bat: M R Ramprakash, J S Foster, A F Giles, A R Caddick, M J Hoggard.
Bowling: Butler 6 0 32 0 Drum 16 2 78 1 Vettori 24 1 90 3 Astle 9 4 18 0 Martin 7 1 40 0 McMillan 3 0 17 0
NEW ZEALAND Second Innings
M H Richardson c Thorpe b Giles 4
M J Horne c Foster b Flintoff 38
L Vincent lbw b Hoggard 71
S P Fleming b Hoggard 11
N J Astle not out 11
C D McMillan not out 17
Extras b3 lb1 nb2 pens 0 6
Total 4 wkts (84 overs) ... 158
Fall: 1-28 2-65 3-128 4-131 Did Not Bat: A C Parore, D L Vettori, C J Drum, I G Butler, C S Martin.
Bowling: Caddick 17 6 31 0 Hoggard 13 4 31 2 Giles 33 11 53 1 Flintoff 16 6 24 1 Vaughan 5 1 15 0
New Zealand drew with England
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