Ashes 2009: 2nd Test: Flintoff's 5 wkts in 2nd Innings give England 1-0 Lead!

Flintoff's brilliant bowling performance in the 2nd innings of the 2nd test match in the Ashes 2009 has given England the 1-0 lead in the five test series with the first one drawn.

England have not beaten Australia since 1934 and this has become a relief for the entire English people.

Deciding to bat first, England started the attack with skipper Strauss leading from the front. Strauss made 161 but got out in the 2nd ball of the 2nd day's play. This was his 18th test century.

The first wicket partnership was 196 between Struass and Cook. The partnership was broken by Johnson trapping Cook leg before for 95. Aussies took 48 overs to taste the first blow.

The start was not well utilized by the rest of the players. Pietersen was the 3rd top scorer with 32.

England were in good position at the end of Day 1 with 364 for 6. They did not use the good first wicket star and the usual collapse ended their innings at 425.

Australia had a good chance of scoring more as they did in the first test. The four century makers--Katich, Ponting, North and Haddin, from the first test could not make contribution in the first innings. Hussey was the only half-century maker.

Anderson demolished the Australian batting order. Anderson had Hughes caught behind for 4 and Ponting followed him to the pavilion caught by Strauss for 2. Katich and Hussey added 93 for the 3rd wicket and took the score to 103. Australia were struggling at 156 for 8 at the end of day 2.

Harutiz and Siddle 44 for the 9th wicket and brought respect to the total. The last wicket added another 19 as Australia were bundled for 215.

England did not force the follow on though they had the right with a lead of 210 runs. England played sensibly and utilized the lead well. Strauss and Cook made 32 each and put 61 for the 1st wicket. Collingwood and Prior made half centuries which gave England a good lead. England declared at 311 for the loss of 6 wickets and set a target of 522.

Australia lost two wickets with just 34 on the board. Flintoff picked both the wickets. Ponting and Hussey added 44 for the 3rd wicket before Broad bowled skipper Ponting for 38. This opened the gate for England's victory.

Michael Clarke and Haddin stayed and delayed the defeat. Australia ended day 4 at 313 for 5 with Clarke scoring a fighting century. He was unbeaten on 125 and Haddin was at 80.

Day 5 resumed with Australia needing 209 runs and England needing 5 wickets.

Flintoff picked Haddin in the 2nd over caught by Collingwood. Johnson once again played useful innings but not good enough for Australia. Swann's flighted delivery beat Clarke who stepped out of the crease and hit the stumps. This assured victory for England. Johnson's half-century should have given him some confidence. He was the last batsman to get out bowled by Swann.

Flintoff picked 5 wickets and Swann had 4 for his account. England beat Australia by 115 runs.

Scoreboard:

Match: Ashes 2009: Test Match 2
Date: July 16-20, 2009
Teams: Australia v. England
Captains: Ponting and Strauss
Toss: England, decided to bat
Venue: Lord's, London
Result: England won by 115 runs
Series Result: England lead 1-0 (1st test drawn)
Man of the Match: Flintoff off England

England 1st Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Strauss	b Hilfenhaus	161	268	22	0
Cook	lbw b Johnson	95	147	18	0
Bopara	lbw b Hilfenhaus	18	19	4	0
Pietersen	c †Haddin b Siddle	32	42	4	0
Collingwood	c Siddle b Clarke	16	36	1	0
Prior	b Johnson	8	10	2	0
Flintoff	c Ponting b Hilfenhaus	4	10	1	0
Broad	b Hilfenhaus	16	26	2	0
Swann	c Ponting b Siddle	4	6	1	0
Anderson	c Hussey b Johnson	29	25	5	0
Onions	not out	17	29	2	0
Extras	(b 15, lb 2, nb 8)	25	-	-	-
Total	all out in 101.4 overs	425	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-196 (Cook, 47.5 ov), 2-222 (Bopara, 53.6 ov), 3-267 (Pietersen, 65.1 ov), 4-302 (Collingwood, 76.3 ov), 5-317 (Prior, 79.3 ov), 6-333 (Flintoff, 82.3 ov), 7-364 (Strauss, 90.2 ov), 8-370 (Swann, 91.5 ov), 9-378 (Broad, 92.6 ov), 10-425 (Anderson, 101.4 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Hilfenhaus	31	12	103	4
Johnson	21.4	2	132	3
Siddle	20	1	76	2
Hauritz	8.3	1	26	0
North	16.3	2	59	0
M Clarke	4	1	12	1

Australia 1st Innings:

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Hughes	c Prior b Anderson	4	9	1	0
Katich	c Broad b Onions	48	93	6	0
Ponting	c Strauss b Anderson	2	15	0	0
M Hussey	b Flintoff	51	91	8	0
M Clarke	c Cook b Anderson	1	12	0	0
North	b Anderson	0	14	0	0
Haddin	c Cook b Broad	28	38	3	0
Johnson	c Cook b Broad	4	11	1	0
Hauritz	c Collingwood b Onions	24	36	4	0
Siddle	c Strauss b Onions	35	47	5	0
Hilfenhaus	not out	6	14	1	0
Extras	(b 4, lb 6, nb 2)	12	-	-	-
Total	all out in 63 overs	215	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-4 (Hughes, 2.3 ov), 2-10 (Ponting, 6.6 ov), 3-103 (Katich, 32.4 ov), 4-111 (Hussey, 35.6 ov), 5-111 (Clarke, 36.3 ov), 6-139 (North, 42.3 ov), 7-148 (Johnson, 45.5 ov), 8-152 (Haddin, 47.5 ov), 9-196 (Hauritz, 58.3 ov), 10-215 (Siddle, 62.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Anderson	21	5	55	4
Flintoff	12	4	27	1
Broad	18	1	78	2
Onions	11	1	41	3
Swann	1	0	4	0

England 2nd Innings: (lead by 210 runs)

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Strauss	c M Clarke b Hauritz	32	48	4	0
Cook	lbw b Hauritz	32	42	6	0
Bopara	c Katich b Hauritz	27	93	4	0
Pietersen	c Haddin b Siddle	44	101	5	0
Collingwood	c Haddin b Siddle	54	80	4	0
Prior	run out (North)	61	42	9	0
Flintoff	not out	30	27	4	0
Broad	not out	0	0	0	0
Extras	(b 16, lb 9, w 1, nb 5)	31	-	-	-
Total	for 6 wkts decl in 71.2 overs	311	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-61 (Cook, 14.1 ov), 2-74 (Strauss, 16.2 ov), 3-147 (Bopara, 44.4 ov), 4-174 (Pietersen, 51.1 ov), 5-260 (Prior, 63.2 ov), 6-311 (Collingwood, 71.2 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Hilfenhaus	19	5	59	0
Johnson	17	2	68	0
Siddle	15.2	4	64	2
Hauritz	16	1	80	3
M Clarke	4	0	15	0

Australia 2nd Innings: (522 to win)

Batsman	How Out	Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Hughes	c Strauss b Flintoff	17	34	2	0
Katich	c Pietersen b Flintoff	6	5	1	0
Ponting	b Broad	38	69	6	0
M Hussey	c Collingwood b Swann	27	63	3	0
M Clarke	b Swann	136	227	14	0
North	b Swann	6	25	1	0
Haddin	c Collingwood b Flintoff	80	130	10	0
Johnson	b Swann	63	75	9	0
Hauritz	b Flintoff	1	5	0	0
Siddle	b Flintoff	7	13	1	0
Hilfenhaus	not out	4	4	0	0
Extras	(b 5, lb 8, nb 8)	21	-	-	-
Total	all out in 107 overs	406	-	-	-

Fall of Wickets: 1-17 (Katich, 3.1 ov), 2-34 (Hughes, 9.2 ov), 3-78 (Ponting, 23.4 ov), 4-120 (Hussey, 32.4 ov), 5-128 (North, 38.4 ov), 6-313 (Haddin, 87.4 ov), 7-356 (Clarke, 98.2 ov), 8-363 (Hauritz, 99.4 ov), 9-388 (Siddle, 103.6 ov), 10-406 (Johnson, 106.6 ov)

Bowler	O	M	R	W
Anderson	21	4	86	0
Flintoff	27	4	92	5
Onions	9	0	50	0
Broad	16	3	49	1
Swann	28	3	87	4
Collingwood	6	1	29	0

5th ODI: Ind v. Eng: Sehwag put India 5-0 Up!

In the 5th ODI played in Kanpur, India beat England one more time and lead the series 5-0. With two more matches to go, England has to find some tactics to handle the Indians.

Kevin Pietersen was surprised when Dhoni elected to field and expressed it during the interview after the toss.

Cook replaced Bell and opened the innings with Bopara. England started slowly and also lost wickets in between. Kevin Pietersen played a captain's innings and scored an unbeaten 111 off 128 balls with 10 fours and a six. He built a good 89-run partnership of with Collingwood and took the score to 157 at the end of 30 overs. Flintoff out for a duck on the third ball he faced. He was caught by Tendulkar of Ishanth Sharma. Pietersen then built another partnership with with Shah (66 not out) took the score to 270.

Once though to be a 300+ score was restricted by the Indian bowlers who really bowled well. The spinners curtailed and in the later overs, the pace bowlers helped India to have a reasonable target.

Chase started with Sehwag and Tendulkar opening the innings. Gambhir was given rest and replaced by Rohit Sharma. Tendulkar and Sehwag added another 100-run partnership to their list of partnership. They added 136 runs for the first wicket with Sachin bowled one more time between the bat and pad. He scored his 90th fifty.

Sehwag was smashing the ball to boundaries at the other end. He reached his 33rd ODI fifty in just 41 balls with 10 fours and a six. He hit 20 runs of Swann's first over which included 3 fours, a six and a two.

Yuvaraj was promoted to No. 3, but could not stay in the crease for long. He checked his shot of the ball pitched on middle and gave a return catch to Bopara. Sehwag got out in the next next ball, unlucky to be given leg before. The ball was clearly missing the leg stump but Broad was lucky to get the wicket.

Dhoni and Rain scored fifty each and took the score closer to the target. Dhoni was leg before to Swann, but Rain and Rohit completed the formalities with 6.2 overs to spare.

Sehwag was declared man of the match for his swashbuckling innings of 91 in 72 balls with 15 fours and a six.

Scoreboard:

Match: 5th ODI
Venue: Barabati Stadium, Cuttack
Teams: India and England
Captains: MS Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen
Toss: India won the toss and decided to field
Match Result: India won by 6 wickets with 38 balls remaining
Series Result: India leading by 5-0
Man of the Match: Virendera Sehwag (India)

England 270 for 4 in 50 overs (RS Bopara 24, AN Cook 11, KP Pietersen 111 not out, PD Collingwood 40, A Flintoff 0, OA Shah 66 not out, Extras--18 (lb 14, w 4), Irfan Pathan 10-1-57-0, Zaheer 10-1-60-2, Ishanth Sharma 10-0-54-1, Harbahajan 10-0-47-1, Yuvaraj Singh 10-0-38-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-33 (Cook, 5.5 ov), 2-68 (Bopara, 9.5 ov), 3-157 (Collingwood, 29.6 ov), 4-158 (Flintoff, 30.4 ov)

India 273 for 4 in 43.4 overs (Sehwag 91, Tendulkar 50, Yuvaraj Singh 6, Dhoni 50, Raina 53 not out, Rohit Sharma 8 not out, Extras--15 (lb 5, w 8, nb 2), Harmison 10-1-50-1, Broad 8.4-0-54-1, Flintoff 9-0-43-0, Patel 3-0-23-0, Swann 7-0-56-1, Bopara 6-1-42-1)

Fall of Wickets: 1-136 (Tendulkar, 19.5 ov), 2-156 (Yuvraj Singh, 22.6 ov), 3-156 (Sehwag, 23.1 ov), 4-250 (Dhoni, 40.6 ov)

4th ODI: Ind v. Eng: India win series, up 4-0!

India beat England in the crucial 4th ODI by 19 runs and lead the 7-match series by 4-0. England has to play for pride in the next three ODI matches as the result has no impact on the series.

The weather forecast indicated rain though the match was started on time. India opened with Sehwag and Sachin after put into bat by Pietersen.

Sachin was bowled through a beauty by Broad. The ball pitched on the off, came in, Tendulkar missed the line and the off stump was knocked out.

The rain stopped play at the end of 14 overs. At the time, India were 82 for 1 with Sehwag on 45 and Gambhir on 23. After bowling one more over, the confusion started with the power play overs that should be decided by India. As per D/L method, the power play was over for India and they couldn't chose their powerplay overs. What a stupid logic? The match was reduced by 6 overs.

Again at the end of 17 overs, rain intervened when India were 106 for 1. The play was stopped for almost 3 hours. When the play resumed, the match was reduced to 22 overs a side.

If India scores another 38 runs in the 5 remaining overs, regardless of the wickets lost by India, England's target would be 181 in 22 overs as per D/L method.

In the last 5 overs, India scored 60 runs and set a target of 198 in 22 overs. Yuvaraj Singh hammered 25 off just 11 balls with 3 sixes. While Pathan hit a six off the last ball. Sehwag was out for 69 in the 18th over. He consumed just 57 balls and hit 9 fours and 3 sixes.

What a strange rule? The batting team scores 166 and set a target of 198!

England did not do well in the power play. At the end of 6 overs, they were 38 for 1. The Indian bowlers restricted England very well.

Shah tried from one end to take England closer to the target, but the brilliant effort was curtailed by short of overs. He scored 72 off 48 balls with 9 fours and 3 sixes before caught by Tendulkar of Zaheer.

Flintoff, though scored 41 off 30 balls which included 3 fours and a six, could not do much except play out the crucial overs in the middle than scoring fours and sixes. His scoring came in the 2 power play overs chose by England.

Sehwag was given the bike for the man of the match award for his firing 69. With this victory, India win the series regardless of what happens in the remaining 3 matches. Sure that India will rest some of the fast bowlers and key players and give chance to others.

Scoreboard:

Match: 4th ODI
Venue: Chinnasamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Teams: India and England
Captains: MS Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen
Toss: England won the toss and decided to field
Match Result: India won by 19 runs by D/L method
Series Result: India leading by 4-0
Man of the Match: Virendera Sehwag (India)
Overs: Match was stopped twice due to rain; first time, the match was reduced by 6 overs and the next time, the match was reduced to 22 overs a side

India 166 for 4 in 22 overs (Sehwag 69, Sachin 11, Gambhir 40, Yuvaraj 25 not out, MS Dhoni 9, Y Pathan 6 not out, Extras--6 (b 1, lb 1, w 4), Anderson 5-0-33-0, Broad 6-1-49-1, Flintoff 5-0-20-0, Patel 3-0-24-0, Swann 2-0-21-2, Pietersen 1-0-17-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-38 (Tendulkar, 7.5 ov), 2-117 (Sehwag, 18.1 ov), 3-142 (Gambhir, 20.2 ov), 4-160 (Dhoni, 21.5 ov)

England 178 for 8 in 22 overs (India won by D/L Method: Target 198 in 22 overs)(Bopara 1, Bell 12, Shah 72, Pietersen 5, Flintoff 41, Collingwood 22, Patel 11, Swann 5, Prior 0 not out, Broad 0 not out, Extras--9 (b 3, lb 2, w 3, nb 1), Zaheer Khan 5-0-20-2, Munaf Patel 4-1-22-2, I Shrama 5-0-41-2, Yusuf Pathan 1-0-17-0, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-42-1, Yuvaraj Singh 3-0-31-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-1 (Bopara, 1.2 ov), 2-44 (Bell, 7.4 ov), 3-52 (Pietersen, 8.5 ov), 4-134 (Shah, 16.5 ov), 5-141 (Flintoff, 17.4 ov), 6-161 (Patel, 19.6 ov), 7-178 (Swann, 21.4 ov), 8-178 (Collingwood, 21.5 ov)

3rd ODI: Ind v. Eng: Harbhajan, Sehwag and Bad Light help India Win!

As rightly predicted by Dhoni after losing the toss, bad light did come into play and India won by Duckworth-Lewis method. Even otherwise, India would have won easily as they needed 43 from 9 overs with 5 more wickets in hand when bad light stopped play.

After losing the toss, Dhoni said to Ravi Shastri, that in one-way it is good to lose the toss because towards the end of the day, the light may fade and bad light may come into play. As righly guessed by Dhoni, umpires awarded the light in favor of the batsman at the end of 40 overs when India were 198 for 5. India needed 182 at that stage as per Duckwork-Lewis method.

India made one change with Ishanth replacing RP Singh. England brought in off spinner Swann in place of Harmison.

Winning the toss in a delayed start match, England decided to bat first. The match was delayed due to bad weather and was reduced to 49-overs. The start was slow in the first six overs, but Bell and Bopara took it to more than 5 runs an over in 13 overs. Bell was out in the 15th over caught behind off Munaf when tried to steer the ball to third man.

Harbhajan picked 3 wickets including a beautiful doosra which deceived Collingwood. He was short of his crease and Dhoni stumped him quickly. When he dismissed Shah caught by Zaheer Khan, he reached the milestone of 200 wickets in ODI. He recently touched the 300 wicket mark in Test Cricket against Australia when he clean bowled Ricky Ponting in the fourth test.

England were all out for 240 in the last over. The start was not that good with Gambhir getting out for 14 when the score was 31. Raina once again failed, bowled by Broad for 1. An important innings is expected from Rohit Sharma to save his place in the side, but he got out for 28. He played well, looked solid, but edged the ball when tried to cut the short ball of Swann.

Yuvaraj Singh scored 38 with one six and got out Flintoff. India were 177 for 5 and needed 54 runs 13 overs. Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan added unbeaten 21 when bad light stopped play.

During the last few overs before play was stopped, India was ahead always in the D/L method. At the end of 40 overs, with 5 wickets lost, India should have scored 182 and they were ahead by 16 runs.

Kevin Pietersen was not happy and was seen discussing with the umpires. Finally he shook hands and moved away conceding defeat.

Harbhajan was adjudged as man of the match for his spell of 10-2-31-3.

Scoreboard:

Match: 3rd ODI
Venue: Green Park, Kanput
Teams: India and England
Captains: MS Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen
Toss: England won the toss and decided to bat
Match Result: India won by 16 runs by D/L method
Series Result: India leading by 3-0
Man of the Match: Harbhajan Singh (India)
Overs: Start delayed due to bad weather; match started with 49-overs a side

England 240 all out in 48.4 overs (Bopara 60, Bell 46, Pietersen 13, Collingwood 1, Flintoff 26, Shah 40, Patel 26, Prior 5, Swann 5 not out, Broad 0, Anderson 1, Extras--17 (lb 3, w 9, nb 5), Zaheer Khan 10-0-45-1, Munaf Patel 6.4-0-36-2, I Shrama 9-0-60-2, Yuvaraj Singh 10-0-54-1, Harbhajan Singh 10-2-31-3, Yousuf Pathan 2-0-7-1, Sehwag 1-0-4-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-79 (Bell, 14.3 ov), 2-102 (Pietersen, 19.1 ov), 3-106 (Collingwood, 21.2 ov), 4-133 (Bopara, 28.5 ov), 5-167 (Flintoff, 36.2 ov), 6-203 (Shah, 43.4 ov), 7-231 (Patel, 46.4 ov), 8-231 (Prior, 46.5 ov), 9-235 (Broad, 47.5 ov), 10-240 (Anderson, 48.4 ov)

India 198 for 5 in 40 overs (India won by D/L Method: Target 182 in 40 overs) (Gambhir 14, Sehwag 68, Raina 1, Rohit Sharma 28, Yuvaraj 38, MS Dhoni 29 not out, Y Pathan 12 not out, Extras--8 (lb 5, w 3), Anderson 6-0-47-0, Broad 9-2-36-1, Flintoff 9-0-31-3, Swann 10-0-47-1, Patel 3-0-18-0, Pietersen 3-0-14-0)

Fall of Wickets: 1-31 (Gambhir, 6.5 ov), 2-34 (Raina, 9.1 ov), 3-107 (RG Sharma, 22.4 ov), 4-125 (Sehwag, 25.2 ov), 5-177 (Yuvraj Singh, 35.6 ov)

England tour to India 2008 - Schedule

England is touring India in November-December 2008. The team lead by Kevin Pietersen will be playing in 2 practice games, 7 ODIs and 2 Test Matches. With Dhoni's men in full form after beating Australia 2-0 in the Border Gavaskar Trophy will be ready to take on the English Challenge.


ODI Practice Games Schedule:

Sun Nov 09, 2008: Mumbai v. England XI in Mumbai
Tue Nov 11, 2008: Mumbai Cricket Association XI v. England XI in Mumbai

ODI Schedule:

Fri Nov 14, 2008: 1st ODI: India v. England in Rajkot
Mon Nov 17, 2008: 2nd ODI: India v. England in Indore
Thu Nov 20, 2008: 3rd ODI: India v. England in Kanpur
Sun Nov 23, 2008: 4th ODI: India v. England in Bangalore
Wed Nov 26, 2008: 5th ODI: India v. England in Cuttack
Sat Nov 29, 2008: 6th ODI: India v. England in Guwahati
Tue Dec 02, 2008: 7th ODI: India v. England in Delhi

Three-Day Practice Games Schedule:

Fri Dec 5 to Sun Dec 7, 2008: To be Decided v. England XI in Baroda

Test Match Schedule:

Thu Dec 11 to Mon Dec 15, 2008: 1st Test: India v. England in Ahemadabad
Fri Dec 19 to Tue Dec 23, 2008: 2nd Test: India v. England in Mumbai

Can the Indians continue the performance and outplay England to capture the No. 1 position in Test Rankings? Can Dhoni's team do it again?

All the best to both the teams!

Strauss Take England to 1-0 Lead!

Struass century in the 2nd innings gave a victory to England in the 2nd test. Chasing a target of 294, Strauss played sensibly and scored a brilliant century off 186 balls with 12 fours. Skipper Vaughan scored an useful 48 and Kevin Pietersen scored 42. The second wicket partnership of 90 runs between Strauss and Vaughan proved vital for England. Third wicket partnership of 85 also added problems to New Zealand as they were not able to break the partnership.

Panesar who captured 6 wickets in the 2nd innings declard man of the match.

England is leading three match series 1-0 with the first test drawn.

Score:
Test: 2
Teams: England and New Zealand
Captains: MP Vaughan and DL Vettori
Toss: New Zealand won the toss and decide to bat
Result: England won by 6 wickets
Series Result: England leading by 1-0
Man of the Match: MS Panesar off England

New Zealand 1st Innings 381 all out in 90.3 overs (JM How 64, AJ Redmond 28, LRPL Taylor 154, JDP Oram 38, KD Mills 57, RJ Sidebottom 2 for 86, JM Anderson 4 for 118)

England 1st Innings 202 all out 83.3 overs (AJ Strauss 60, MP Vaughan 30, KP Pietersen 26, SCJ Broad 30, KD Mills 2 for 38, IE O'Brien 3 for 49, DL Vettori 5 for 66)

New Zealand 2nd Innings 114 all out in 41.2 overs (JM How 29, JAH Marshall 28, RJ Sidebottom 2 for 26, MS Panesar 6 for 37)

England 2nd Innings (target 294 runs) 294 for 4 in 88 overs (AJ Strauss 106, AN Cook 28, MP Vaughan 48, KP Pietersen 42)

1st Test: England v. New Zealand: Ends in a Draw!

The first test between England and New Zealand played at Lords ended in a draw on the fifth day. Rain played the spoil sport for most of the time. The entire game saw only 284.1 overs all the five days put together as aginst the 444 overs leaving out the 6 overs for side change. There was a shortage of 160 overs which would have given a result.



Jacob Oram scored a quick fire century to help New Zealand go for a draw. Trailing by 42 runs in the 2nd innings, New Zealand were 269 for 6 when the play was called off. At one stage, they were struggling at 115 for 4, but the 137 run partnership betwen Oram and Flynn (and McCullum who got retired hurt) gave hope for New Zealand to go for a draw. He scored 101 in 121 balls with 15 fours and 2 sixes.



Click here for 2nd Test Results!

Click here for 3rd Test Results!

Earlier, England Skipper Michael Vaughan scored a brilliant hundred to give a lead of 42 runs. He was the last batsman to get out for 106 off 214 balls with 11 fours. The 48-run partnership for the 8th wicket between Vaughan and Sidebottom helped them go past New Zealand's first innings score.

Flintoff did not play this test as he was injured.



Vettori was declared man of the match for his five wicket haul in the first innings.

The 3 test series is now has two more test matches to go with no result in the first match.

Test: 1
Venue: Lords, England
Teams: England and New Zealand
Captains: Michael Vaughan and Daniel Vettori
Toss: England won the toss and decided to field
Match Result: Drawn
Series Result: 0-0
Man of the Match: Daniel Vettori off New Zealand
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 319 all out in 111.3 overs (AJ Strauss 63, AN Cook 61, MP Vaughan 106, SCJ Broad 25, CS Martin 2 for 76, JDP Oram 2 for 45, DL Vettori 5 for 69)
New Zealand 2nd Innings (trail by 42 runs) 269 for 6 in 86.2 overs (JM How 68, DR Flynn 29 not out, JDP Oram 101, RJ Sidebottom 2 for 65, JM Anderson 2 for 64)

Click here for 2nd Test Results!

Click here for 3rd Test Results!

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)