Rain Irritates England and New Zealand!

In the first test match between New Zealand and England played at Lords, rain halted play again on the third day.

Rain spoiled the sport in all the three days so far and is expected to rain again during the remaining two days.

After put into bat by England skipper Vaughan, New Zealand ended the day 1 at 208 for 6 in 52.1 overs. Rain spoiled the remaining 37.5 overs.

The remaining wickets were taken and New Zealand lost all the wickets afer lunch. They were all out for 277 with McCullum scoring 97 and skipper Vettori scoring 48.

England ended day 2 at 68 for no loss in 21.3 overs. Rain impacted another 35 overs on Day 2.

The third day saw just about 9 overs and rain took away the rest of the overs. Not sure how many overs will be bowled on 4th day. Only weather god knows it.

Short Score:

Toss: England won the toss and decided to field
Captain: Vettori and Vaughan
Score:
New Zealand 1st Innings 277 all out in 86.2 overs (JAH Marshall 24, BB McCullum 97, JDP Oram 28, DL Vettori 48, RJ Sidebottom 4 for 55, JM Anderson 3 for 66, SCJ Broad 2 for 85)
England 1st Innings 89 for no loss in 30.2 overs (AK Strauss 31 batting, AN Cook 53 batting)

England has upper hand at the end of Day 3 in 2nd Test

England has a very good chance of levelling the series against New Zealand with a massive 421 runs lead with a wicket in hand. Whether New Zeland will be able to score 400+ runs in the 2nd innings with almost 2 days left, we have to wait and see.

Skipper Collingwood was the last batsman out on Day 3 for 59. He faced 116 balls and hit 10 fours. Earlier Alastair Cook made 60 to give a good start to England's second innings. Resuming day 3 at 4 for no wicket, England lost captain Vaughan early for 13. Cook and Strauss added 106 for the 2nd wicket and when everything was going fine for England, Mills sent Cook back to Pavilion. Strauss followed Cook after he added two runs with Pietersen. With score board reading 160, Pietersen fell for 17 when Martin's finger touched the ball and hit the stumps while Pietersen was far away from the crese. Then it was left to Bell and Collingwood to add some good runs to the score board. When Bell was on 41, he was caught by Sinclair of Oram. Ambrose was bowled for 5 and the score was 231 for 6. Broad added valueable 16 runs to his score and was soon out. Sidebottom was out for duck and the score was 260 for 8. Finally, Collingwood also fell LBW to Gillespie and the score is 277 for 9.

Oram picked 3 wickets, Mills and Gillespie took 2 wickets each.

Will England carry on the good bowling in the 2nd innings or will New Zealand create history by chasing 400+ in the last innings and win the test? Will have to wait and see this good test cricket--with no complaints on sledging or claiming a catch that was not taken or no big contraversies in umpiring decisions.