Graeme Hick punished Zimbabwe, the land of his birth, on the second day of the first of two Test matches at Lord's yesterday.

At the close, England had a first innings lead of 92 having posted 175 for three on another rain-marred day.

Hick was 62 not out, his 23rd half century in 95 test innings, and Alec Stewart was 14 not out.

Zimbabwe captain and wicketkeeper Andy Flower gave Hick a life four overs before the rescheduled close of play.

The batsman edged a Neil Johnson delivery. Flower and first slip Alistair Campbell collided. Flower still got both gloves to the ball but failed to hold the shoulder high chance to his right.

Four stoppages proved frustrating for a paltry 12,000 crowd who booed the tourists when they seemed to take an excessively long time to dry the ball.

Opener Michael Atherton, 13 not out overnight recorded his 10th first-class fifty at Lord's. Atherton faced 120 balls and hit five fours in his 158-minute stay.

This left England 113 for three, Atherton and Hick sharing a stand of 64 in 123 balls. Heath Streak had claimed all the wickets in the innings and at that stage had three for 33 overs.

Bad light stopped play at 5.13 p.m. and was quickly followed by rain, a pattern repeated at 5.48 p.m. with England 160 for three. Their 150 came in good time off 311 balls.

Earlier only eight overs were possible in the second session before rain forced the players off at 2.05 p.m. though that was long enough for England to take a first innings lead.