Match Result: England Won By 98 Runs
Our Man Of The Match: Nasser Hussain

England Line-Up:

     ME Trescothick
     MP Vaughan
     MA Butcher
     N Hussain (Captain)
     GP Thorpe
     MR Ramprakash
     A Flintoff
     JS Foster (Wicketkeeper)
     AF Giles
     AR Caddick
     MJ Hoggard

New Zealand Line-Up:

     MH Richardson
     MJ Horne
     L Vincent
     SP Fleming (Captain)
     NJ Astle
     CD McMillan
     AC Parore (Wicketkeeper)
     DL Vettori
     CJ Drum
     IG Butler
     CL Cairns

New Zealand captain won the toss in the first test of three played at the Jade Stadium in Christchurch, and had no hesitation in inserting England on a green pitch, with cloudy conditions that would offer plenty for the seam bowlers.

Trescothick was lost to only the third ball of the game without scoring, and Butcher went to the fifth ball, also without troubling the scorers. 0-2! Not the best way to start a series. Opener Vaughan and England captain Hussain then shared in a 46-run partnership that steadied England, before Vaughan became Cairns' third victim of the day for 27. 46-3.

Graham Thorpe then made a brief 17 to help Hussain (left) carry England to 83, but when he became the fourth wicket to fall, things did not look good for England.

Hussain and Mark Ramprakash then shared a 56-partnership, Ramprakash becoming the fifth wicket to fall with the score on 139.

Andrew Flintoff's batting woe continued when he was trapped LBW to the part time bowling of Nathan Astle for no score, with England now 151-6. James Foster than aspired to give his skipper exactly what he needed: a lasting partner. He batted an amazing 82 minutes and 75 balls for just 19 runs, but it allowed the two to strike up a 45 run partnership that saw England move to 196-7. Giles and Caddick were then removed after making 8 and 0 respectively, both coming in under 15 balls, and Hussain was last man out for 106, an innings that held his team together and made sure that they did not disappear under a Kiwi avalanche. For this, we decided that he should be our man of the match, where as the official award went to his England team-mate Graham Thorpe. Hussain's innings was one of genuine class, and showed what excellent leadership qualities he has. England 228 all out.

The New Zealander's reply lasted just 51.2 overs, 21.2 of which were bowled by the out-standing Matthew Hoggard (right). He took 7-63 in an unbroken display of class fast bowling, well supported by chief seamer Andy Caddick, who for one in recent weeks played second fiddle, taking 3-50 in 18 overs. Andy Flintoff bowled the other 12 overs at a cost of just 29 runs, and finished wicketless for his efforts.

For the hosts, night-watchman Daniel Vettori and all-rounder Craig McMillan played the only real innings of note, scoring 42 and 40 respectively. The next highest score came from opener Horne who scored just 14, and next was the 13 extras bowled by England.

Such was Hoggard's dominance over the New Zealand batting that he claimed the scalps of the top four batsmen. A class act for the present and for the future methinks. Gough who?!

England's second innings began on a bad note when Vaughan took his turn to be the unlucky opener, dismissed for naught with the score on 11. Butcher and Hussain then took the score to exactly 50 before Trescothick went for a cautious 33. First innings hero Hussain then joined Mark Butcher, but the partnership was short-lived as he went caught behind for just 11. Still, he could be forgiven, he did after all save his team first time around!

Enter Graham Thorpe. The Kiwis didn't know it at the time, but they were going to get very sick of the site of England's chief stroke maker. Although he lost Butcher for 34, and Ramprakash for 11, he went on to score a career-best 200 not out from just 231 balls in 330 minutes, including 28 fours and 4 sixes. Partnered by Andy Flintoff the two added 281 together, Flintoff finishing with a test-best 137, including 23 fours and 3 sixes. Flintoff went with the score on 387.

James Foster came in to partner Thorpe through to his awesome double century, scoring 22 not out himself before England skipper Hussain decided that the home side had been tortured enough, and called his boys in with the score on 468-6, leaving New Zealand 550 to win from 185 overs. And some said they had no chance...

New Zealand's openers, Richardson and Horne took their team to 42 before Andy Caddick claimed his first victim of six, thanks to a catch from the under-fire wicketkeeper James Foster.

Disaster then struck as Lou Vincent was lost for naught, Caddick again the bowler, Butcher the catcher this time around. Captain Stephen Fleming and Richardson then took the score through to 119 before Caddick claimed his third victim, Foster taking his second catch to remove Richardson for 76.

Enter Nathan Astle. He and Fleming shared in a 70-run partnership before Fleming went two short of what would have been a well-deserved half century. McMillan and Astle then put on a further 53 before Caddick struck again to claim his fourth wicket, and Adam Parore followed just two overs later for a single run, Caddick again the successful bowler. 252-6.

At this stage it looked as though the Kiwis were down and out. But, Astle (right) was having none of it. Vettori played the perfect partner, nudging and rotating the strike as Astle began to power his team further and further towards their target. When Giles got a deserved wicket the match was poised still in favour of England at 300-7, the hosts still needing 250 runs to win with only three wickets remaining. Drum was dismissed for a duck by Flintoff to make the score 301-8, and Butler batted just 15 balls for four. However, in the space of the 17 minutes he was out in the middle, Astle managed to take the score to 333-9. What happened next, as they say, was unbelievable. The injured Chris Cairns faced just 29 balls and scored only 23 runs, and yet such was Astle's power over the English attack, the pair added 118 runs! Astle was the last man out after setting a new record for the fastest double-century in terms of balls, his coming from just 153, beating Adam Gilchrist's, made three weeks ago against South Africa, by 59 balls. A truly splendid effort, but it was not enough as his side fell 98 short of England and so lost the first test.

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