MANCHESTER (England), May 23: Ross Taylor’s dashing, unbeaten 67 kept England’s attack at bay before bad light forced an early halt to the opening day’s play of the second Test here at Old Trafford on Friday.

New Zealand reached stumps on 202 for four, having slumped to 123 for four after a promising start.

All-rounder Jacob Oram, who made a century in the drawn first Test at Lord’s, was 22 not out after Daniel Flynn had retired hurt.

Together with Taylor he’d shared in a counter-attacking stand of 66 in 80 balls, their runs coming in under an hour.

Left-arm quick Ryan Sidebottom, who struck twice in seven balls before lunch, led England’s attack with two for 33 in 16 overs.

Earlier, opener Jamie How made a composed 64 and put on 80 for the first wicket with Aaron Redmond (28) after New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat.

New Zealand resumed after lunch on 92 for two, with How 58 not out and Taylor unbeaten on four.But How had added only six runs when he edged pace bowler James Anderson, on his Lancashire home ground, to wicket-keeper Tim Ambrose.

How faced 110 balls with seven fours. His exit brought in the hard-hitting Brendon McCullum, New Zealand’s first innings hero at Lord’s with a run-a-ball-97.

But three balls later wicket-keeper McCullum was out for 11 when, after playing a ball from Panesar that turned and took the outside edge, he was caught at first slip by Paul Collingwood.

New Zealand, who had been 80 for one, were now 123 for four.

Their score had moved on to 136 when Flynn, playing in only his second Test, retired hurt on four after missing an attempted hook off a short ball from Anderson which crashed into the grille of his helmet and saw the left-hander lose a tooth.

Oram, who’d struggled with the short ball at Lord’s, then took his eye off an Anderson bouncer that struck him on the helmet.

The Old Trafford pitch is renowned for its pace and bounce but the talented Taylor demonstrated one way to combat the short ball by hooking an Anderson bouncer for six.

Taylor continued to attack and stylishly square-cut Anderson for four. A rasping cut off Anderson saw Taylor to a 52-ball fifty with a six and seven fours. It was Taylor’s fourth half-century in his seventh Test.

Sidebottom, who took six wickets at Lord’s and 24 in England’s 2-1 Test series win in New Zealand in March, ended the first-wicket stand when he bowled Redmond shouldering arms.

And 80 for one became 86 for two when James Marshall, for the second innings in a row, was lbw to Sidebottom for nought.

This match saw Australia’s Darrell Hair umpiring his first Test since penalising Pakistan five penalty runs for alleged ball-tampering at The Oval in August 2006.

The 55-year-old enjoyed a largely trouble-free day until, in consultation with fellow Australian umpire Simon Taufel, he took the players off the field for bad light at 1459GMT, to the disgust of the 17,000 crowd.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings):

J. How c Ambrose b Anderson 64

A. Redmond b Sidebottom 28

J. Marshall lbw b Sidebottom 0

R. Taylor not out 67

B. McCullum c Collingwood b Panesar 11

D. Flynn ret hurt 4

J. Oram not out 22

EXTRAS (LB-6) 6

TOTAL (for four wkts, 54 overs) 202

FALL OF WKTS: 1-80, 2-86, 3-102, 4-123.

TO BAT: D Vettori, K Mills, I O’Brien, C Martin.

Bowling: Sidebottom 16-6-33-2; Anderson 12-0-66-1; Panesar 13-1-62-1; Broad 13-3-35-0.

ENGLAND: Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan (captain), Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Tim Ambrose (wicket-keeper), Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom, Monty Panesar, James Anderson.

UMPIRES: Simon Taufel (Australia) and Darrell Hair (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: Ian Gould (England).

MATCH REFEREE: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).—AFP