WELLINGTON, March 21: Windy Wellington’s notorious weather claimed the opening day of the second cricket Test Thursday but it was welcomed by England batsman Mark Butcher.

The umpires abandoned play without a ball bowled with the Basin Reserve buffeted by gale-force winds and driving rain. More rain is forecast for early Friday but it is expected to clear.

Butcher cracked his right thumb taking a catch in the Christchurch Test win over New Zealand, and was considered out of the running for the Wellington match.

But he has batted in the nets this week and Thursday’s weather intervention bought him some more time in his recovery to play.

England coach Duncan Fletcher said Butcher was confident he would be able to bat, but that catching was a problem.

“We want to wait for as long as we can to test his thumb before we make a decision,” said Fletcher Thursday.

“Twenty-four hours made a big difference to Butcher this week, so this will be an advantage to him.”

England lead the series after their 98-run win in last weekend’s Christchurch Test.

Fletcher took the team to an indoor facility in the afternoon to keep the players active after the loss of the first day’s play.

“It would be easy to go back to the team hotel and switch off, but we have to be ready to switch on and play, even though we are one-up in the series,” he said.

Fletcher confirmed the same 12 that played in Christchurch would be fielded again in Wellington, meaning that if Butcher could not convince selectors of his fitness then all-rounder Craig White would come into the starting eleven.

Butcher would be given fielding drills to check if he could last out the Wellington Test, Fletcher said.

Fletcher said the Basin Reserve pitch looked “underprepared” when he glanced at it earlier in the week before the deterioration in the weather.

The pitch has been under large covers for the past two stormy days and locals believe it to be a result-pitch given the outcome of domestic games there this season.

No play was possible before lunch and match umpires Steve Dunne and Darrell Hair made an inspection at 12.30 pm (2330 GMT) and decided to call off play for the rest of the day.

High winds and rain are forecast to continue with clearing conditions expected Friday.

Play will be extended by an hour over each of the four remaining days to make up for some of the lost playing time.—AFP