CricketViewer.com

James Anderson claimed two early wickets to put a dent in New Zealand’s reply to England’s first innings on day two of the third and final Test at Trent Bridge on Friday.

New Zealand reached 57 for two at tea after Aaron Redmond (1) and Brendon McCullum (9) were bowled by Anderson out-swingers. Both looked to play through midwicket only to be squared up by the moving ball, though McCullum’s delivery swung less and he should have played straighter.

Opener Jamie How was 22 not out along with Ross Taylor, who scored a century in the last Test, on 20. Anderson had two for 26 from eight overs. New Zealand trail by 307 runs.

Just when the batsmen appeared more comfortable as the swing became less pronounced, England captain Michael Vaughan complained about the shape of the ball and the umpires agreed to change it. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori admitted on Wednesday that changing the ball had become a legitimate tactic in the series as the replacement balls, a batch from 2007, had swung more.

England were all out for 364 shortly after lunch as Stuart Broad was dismissed for a Test-best 64, bowled by Chris Martin. He survived a nervous period either side of lunch when he was stranded on 49 for 25 deliveries. Kevin Pietersen scored 115 on Thursday after England were 86 for five.

England need only to avoid defeat in the match to win the series after drawing at Lord’s and winning the second Test at Old Trafford by six wickets.

Before lunch, Broad and Anderson put on 76 for the eighth wicket to frustrate the visitors for 100 minutes of the mornings ession before Anderson was dismissed for a Test-best 28.

New Zealand did have their chances as Broad was dropped on 21 at second slip by McCullum off Martin and at 46 by Redmond at gully off Jacob Oram.

In the same Oram over, Anderson edged to wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins, missing the opportunity to pass his highest first-class score of 37 not out.

Score board

New Zealand won toss

England 1st inns (overnight 273-7)

A J Strauss c Taylor b Mills 37

A N Cook b Mills 6

*M P Vaughan b O’Brien 16

K P Pietersen c Hopkins b O’Brien 115

I R Bell lbw b O’Brien 0

P D Collingwood c Taylor b Mills 0

†T R Ambrose c Hopkins b O’Brien 67

S C J Broad b Martin 64

J M Anderson c Hopkins b Oram 28

R J Sidebottom not out 7

M S Panesar c McCullum b Vettori 0

Extras (b10, lb9, w1, nb4) 24

Total (all out, 126.5 overs) 364

Fall: 1-14, 2-44, 3-84, 4-85, 5-86, 6-247, 7-262, 8-338, 9-361

Bowling: Martin 22-5-83-1 (1w); Mills 31-8-76-3 (2nb); O’Brien 23-4-74-4 (1nb); Oram 22-7-35-1; Vettori 28.5-4-77-1 (1nb)

New Zealand 1st inns

J M How not out 22

A J Redmond b Anderson 1

B B McCullum b Anderson 9

L R P L Taylor not out 20

Extras (lb4, w1) 5

Total (2 wkts, 19 overs) 57

To bat: D R Flynn, J D P Oram, †G J Hopkins, *D L Vettori, K D Mills, I E O’Brien, C S Martin

Fall: 1-2, 2-14

Bowling: Sidebottom 7-1-18-0; Anderson 8-0-26-2 (1w); Collingwood 2-0-5-0; Broad 2-1-4-0

Series: England leads 3-match series 1-0

Test debut: Gareth Hopkins (New Zealand)

Umpires: S A Bucknor (West Indies) and D B Hair (Australia). TV umpire: P J Hartley. Match referee: R S Madugalle (Sri Lanka)

Previous matches: May 15-19 1st Test Lord’s, match drawn. May 23-26 2nd Test Manchester, England won by 6 wickets

Source:Cricket News

Capture the Conversation tells you what people are saying right now!

Share on Twitter | StumbleUpon | Del.icio.us | Digg | Facebook