WELLINGTON, March 22: England made a positive start to the rain-delayed second Test against New Zealand Friday despite losing openers Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick.
At the close of the second day England, asked to bat following the loss of the entire first day’s play through rain, were 92 for two from 30 overs after play finally began midway through the afternoon.
Although the day dawned bright and sunny, the covers protecting the pitch area from Thursday’s high winds and heavy rain did not do their job. While the pitch was dry the surrounding areas were too wet to permit play until 3.30 p.m. (0330GMT).
Stephen Fleming won the toss and asked England to bat on a greenish pitch, hoping for similar rewards as in the first Christchurch test when England were nought for two after the first over.
But Vaughan and Trescothick batted sensibly through the early overs before Vaughan was dismissed, caught by Fleming at first slip off Chris Drum for seven.
The left-handed Trescothick reached 37 with seven boundaries before he tried to repeat a sweep shot off Vettori which had just yielded him four runs.
This time he played too early and skied the ball for Lou Vincent to take a comfortable catch.
The New Zealand bowling was tighter than it had been in the first Test with new ball bowler Ian Butler, playing his second Test, obtaining some good bounce and carry but little movement off the seam while Drum got some movement in the air.
Chris Martin, the 12th man in the first Test in Christchurch who came in as a replacement for the injured Chris Cairns, started well when he relieved Butler, forcing Trescothick and Mark Butcher in to some hurried shots.
But there were no real demons in the pitch and after 13 overs Fleming introduced Vettori in to the attack.
When play ended early through bad light, Butcher was on 24 and captain Nasser Hussain had scored 16. England won the first Test of the three-match series by 98 runs.
Meanwhile, England opener Marcus Trescothick defended his lean run of scores on the tour of New Zealand Friday by saying he played the game aggressively and would not change.
England reached 92 for two in the 30 overs of play available on the second day of the second test. Trescothick was caught for 37 attempting a sweep shot off spinner Daniel Vettori.
He has scored 155 runs in New Zealand at an average of just over 17, with a highest score of 41.
ENGLAND (1st innings)
M.Trescothick c Vincent b Vettori 37
M.Vaughan c Fleming b Drum 7
M.Butcher not out 24
N.Hussain not out 16
EXTRAS (lb-1 nb-7) 8
TOTAL (for two wickets, 30 overs) 92
FALL OF WKTS: 1-26 2-63
TO BAT: G.Thorpe, M.Ramprakash, A.Flintoff, J.Foster, A. Giles, A.Caddick, M.Hoggard.
BOWLING: Butler 6-0-25-0 (6nb), Drum 9-3-24-1 (1nb), Martin 6-1-18-0, Vettori 9-2-24-1.
NEW ZEALAND: S.Fleming (captain), M.Richardson, M.Horne, L. Vincent, N.Astle, C.McMillan, A.Parore, D.Vettori, C.Drum, I. Butler, C.Martin.—Reuters