24 May 2004	Monday	04 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

LONDON, May 23: New Zealand set England 282 to win after opener Mark Richardson achieved the Lord's century which eluded him by seven runs in the first innings with a monumentally patient 101 on the fourth day of the first Test on Sunday.

The left-hander's fourth Test hundred anchored New Zealand's second innings of 336 all out four overs before the close. When play ended for the day the home side were eight without loss.

Wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum, who resumed on 72 when New Zealand began the day on 134 for one, fell four short of his maiden Test century in only his seventh innings.

He was beaten repeatedly by Simon Jones bowling with controlled aggression from the Pavilion End and was finally out caught behind by Geraint Jones after hitting 14 fours from 162 deliveries.

Scott Styris avoided a pair when he pushed Jones for two but he added only two more before he was caught at silly point by Nasser Hussain pushing forward to left-arm spinner Ashley Giles.

Craig McMillan drove his first ball hard to mid-off but then tried an ambitious sweep from the next. He bottom-edged the ball on to his pad and Hussain leaped jubilantly to take the catch.

The Kiwis were in further trouble in the second over of the afternoon session when Jacob Oram on four pushed Andy Flintoff to mid-wicket and set off for the run. Hussain gathered the ball in his right hand on the run and threw down the wicket at the bowler's end in a brilliant piece of fielding.

Richardson and Nathan Astle, batting at number seven after he was off the field for the entire England innings recovering from influenza, battled throughout the afternoon against some accurate bowling from Giles.

Astle drove consecutive fours off Flintoff through extra-cover and mid-on but was unable to assert the authority he showed in his first innings 64. Richardson traded almost entirely in singles before he was caught behind off Steve Harmison after batting for more than 13 hours in total for the match.

Astle, who had survived a chance to Flintoff at mid-wicket when he had scored 46, made only three more runs before he was also caught behind off Harmison and Daniel Vettori followed in identical fashion for five. At that stage, Harmison had taken three for 14 off 21 balls.

Chris Cairns with only the tailenders for company failed to reproduce his first innings heroics when he struck 82 from 47 deliveries, falling for 14 when he was well held at mid-wicket by Mark Butcher trying to loft Giles to the fence.

England were frustrated by the last-wicket pair of Daryl Tuffey and Chris Martin, who increased the New Zealand lead while using up valuable time. Martin was finally bowled by Flintoff for seven while Tuffey remained unbeaten of 14. Harmison was again the most successful of the bowlers with four for 76 from 29 overs.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 386 (M.H. Richardson 93, C.L. Cairns 82, J.D.P. Oram 67, N.J. Astle 64; S.J. Harmison 4-126).

ENGLAND (1st Innings) 441 (A.J. Strauss 112, M.E. Trescothick 86, A. Flintoff 63).

NEW ZEALAND (2nd Innings, overnight 134-1):

M.H. Richardson c G. Jones b Harmison 101

S.P. Fleming c Hussain b Harmison 4

B.B. McCullum c G. Jones b S. Jones 96

S.B. Styris c Hussain b Giles 4

C.D. McMillan c Hussain b Giles 0

J.D.P. Oram run out 4

N.J. Astle c G. Jones b Harmison 49

C.L. Cairns c Butcher b Giles 14

D.L. Vettori c G. Jones b Harmison 5

D.R. Tuffey not out 14

C.S. Martin b Flintoff 7

EXTRAS (B-14, LB-16, NB-8) 38

TOTAL (all out, 121.1 overs) 336

FALL OF WKTS: 1-7, 2-180, 3-187, 4-187, 5-203, 6-287, 7-290, 8-304, 9-310.

BOWLING: Harmison 29-8-76-4; Flintoff 16.1-5-40-1; Hoggard 14-3-39-0 (5nb); S.P. Jones 23-5-64-1 (3nb); Giles 39-8-87-3.

ENGLAND (2nd Innings):

M.E. Trescothick not out 1

A.J. Strauss not out 6

EXTRAS (NB-1) 1

TOTAL (for no wkt, five overs) 8

BOWLING (to-date): Oram 2-1-3-0 (1nb); Tuffey 2-1-5-0; Vettori 1-1-0-0. -Reuters