CRICKET TEST MATCH:AN ALL-TOO-FAMILIAR pattern emerged at Trent Bridge yesterday as England batted themselves back into the match after yet another worrying middle-order collapse brought three wickets for two runs in the space of 13 deliveries immediately after lunch.
Salad samples should be sent for analysis. That they recovered to end in the ascendant was down to the endeavours of Kevin Pietersen, who had rescued them from a similar plight in Napier, and Tim Ambrose, whose defiant century in the Test before that had done likewise. Both matches ended in England wins. New Zealand will have spotted the omens.
Yesterday Pietersen was magnificent, virtually flawless in making 115 before Iain O'Brien found his edge with the second new ball half an hour before the close. It was a tired shot, but understandably so. He had worked massively hard over almost five hours on a pitch that offered seam bowlers every encouragement and produced one of the finest of his dozen Test hundreds. It was by no means a lone battle, however, for Ambrose pottered his way to the middle at 86 for five, and was out for 67 with the close in sight, the pair having added 161 for the sixth wicket.
There was more to Ambrose's innings than the trademark square-cut - boundaries through midwicket and just to the on-side of straight stand out - but the seamers still fed his favourite shot. He hit nine fours.
England, then, will resume this morning on 273 for seven, worth more given the sluggish outfield, with Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson at the crease, the latter bewilderingly a nightwatchman to protect Ryan Sidebottom.
Thus once again New Zealand lacked the resources to take advantage of the position that they had created. There was some worthy bowling from Kyle Mills, who took three of the first five wickets, and from O'Brien, who took the other four for his best Test figures.
But Chris Martin, the experienced spearhead who ought to have cashed in, was out of sorts, unable to sustain length or direction and offering too many scoring chances for a surface that needed a more relentless approach.
Jacob Oram provided his usual parsimony but never looked threatening, while Daniel Vettori, who might reasonably have expected not to bowl at all, tried to tease, but with one exception found none of the grip that might have come with the dampness. He dropped short more often than he is used to, getting carved away for his pains. That England found themselves in such a parlous position was as much down to their own inadequacies of technique and concentration as to any excellence from the New Zealand bowlers, given first chance to exploit the residual dampness after torrential rain earlier in the week.
Certainly the ball moved around, both when new and then, following the almost obligatory change, when older. It went both off the seam and in the air, although not as extravagantly as predicted by those who thought the new stand would alter the ground's aerodynamics.
But all the batsmen were complicit in their downfalls, with Alastair Cook still on the move when he dragged a wideish ball on to his leg stump, Michael Vaughan, after a jaunty start, driving at a straight ball and missing, and then, after lunch, Andrew Strauss throwing the bat at a wide one and slicing to slip.
Ian Bell played round his pad to a full delivery and Paul Collingwood mesmerically followed a gentle away swinger and edged it. That Bell and Collingwood both made nought and lasted seven deliveries between them provides more evidence for those who believe the batting club is a little too cosy.
Over the winter Pietersen redesigned his game to line the ball up straighter in defence and generally offer less to the bowler. Pietersen, at least, is a batsman who can deliver when it is needed.
Guardian Service
ENGLAND: first innings:
A Strauss c Taylor b Mills 37
A Cook b Mills 6
M Vaughan b OBrien 16
K Pietersen c Hopkins b OBrien 115
I Bell lbw b OBrien 0
P Collingwood c Taylor b Mills 0
T Ambrose c Hopkins b OBrien 67
S Broad not out 15
J Anderson not out 1
Extras (b-4 lb-8 nb-4) 16
Total (for seven wickets, 90 overs) 273
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-44, 3-84, 4-85, 5-86, 6-247, 7-262.
Bowling (to date): Martin 12-1-61-0, Mills 24-7-58-3 (2nb), OBrien 20-4-61-4 (1nb), Oram 17-6-26-0, Vettori 17-0-55-0 (1nb).
To bat: R. Sidebottom, M. Panesar.
NEW ZEALAND: Daniel Vettori (capt), Jamie How, Aaron Redmond, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Daniel Flynn, Jacob Oram, Gareth Hopkins (wicketkeeper), Kyle Mills, Iain OBrien, Chris Martin.
