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Richardson puts Black Caps on top

Friday, May 21 2004

New Zealand 284 for 5
Richardson 93, Astle 64, Oram 64*, Jones 2 for 54)


An innings of great patience and no little skill from Mark Richardson allowed New Zealand to dominate the first day of the series. If England had any misconceptions about the task facing them against Stephen Fleming's side, today would have left them in little doubt. After winning the toss, their batsmen have built a useful platform from which to build a winning position, and England will need to significantly improve their performance if they are going to repeat their successes in the Caribbean.


The morning definitely belonged to the visitors. Hoggard set the tone with two no-balls in his first over and, like Harmison, he seemed slightly out of sorts. Richardson and Fleming were able to leave far too many balls and, apart from the occasional spanking boundary, progress was sedate. They passed 50 without any alarms whatsoever and, after one Harmison over had gone for 10, Trescothick brought on Simon Jones. Jones, of course, was something of a controversial selection given Anderson's recent form, but he bowled a pretty decent spell before lunch. He passed the bat a couple of times, which hadn't happened too often beforehand, and then claimed the wicket of Fleming, caught by Strauss at point as the batsman drove airily at a wide one. It was a soft dismissal but, not for the first time, Jones had shown his ability to remove top batsmen. By now, Flintoff had joined Jones in the attack and for the first time the batsmen were put under some pressure. Astle, who had replaced his captain, and Richardson both had narrow escapes. There were several plays and misses, a couple of edges flew through the slips for streaky boundaries and another dropped just short of Butcher. However, they survived and, at 80 for 1, the tourists looked well set.


Astle then proceeded to dominate the post-lunch session. After a couple of streaky edges, he settled to play a succession of glorious shots. He particularly enjoyed Hoggard's bowling, but he also punished Harmison when England's hero from the Caribbean dropped too short. He had a lucky escape when he edged Flintoff between Thorpe & Butcher, stationed and stationary at second and third slip. However, the all-rounder had his revenge the following over when Astle nicked him to Geraint Jones, who gratefully clung on to his first test catch. Astle's 64 had come from only 77 balls and before Flintoff's intervention he looked like taking the game away from England by tea on Day 1. Instead, NZ lost a third wicket when Scott Styris became the second wicket for both Jones, edging behind for a duck. Shortly after tea, Hoggard trapped Craig McMillan leg before for 6, and 161 for 1 had become 174 for 4: England were back in business


At this point, Jacob Oram entered the fray. This was the first time many English followers had seen this huge man play, and he didn't disappoint. He played a couple of lovely straight drives off the quicks to get going and, when Giles came into the attack, he sent him on his way with a series of well-struck boundaries. His half century came from only 53 balls and his partnership with Richardson had added 106 before the opener departed shortly before the close. By now, Richardson had made it to 93. If his 266-ball innings could hardly be described as exciting, it was absolutely crucial to his side's chances. To describe him as solid would be an under-statement. He could have been run out following a mix-up with Astle. He also had an iffy patch shortly after tea when he played and missed a couple of time and was dropped by Giles, at full stretch. But that was pretty much it and he looked well set to reach his hundred until Harmison got one through his defences to win a lbw decision in the penultimate over of the day. Replays showed that Richardson was unlucky - the ball seemed to have caught the edge of the bat before the pads - but that won't worry him if his side do go on from here to take a one-nil lead. Tomorrow morning should be fascinating. NZ's talented lower order are quite capable of taking the game completely beyond England, but, with the new ball only a few overs old, Harmison and Hoggard are also capable of bring a swift end to the innings.



Posted by David