Hoggard high five but fumbling Flintoff bags a golden duck

Matthew Hoggard was dropped — along with Steve Harmison — after the defeat by New Zealand at Hamilton last month. The 31- year-old seamer evidently does not take kindly to being made a scapegoat, as he showed national selector Geoff Miller with a five-wicket demolition of Hampshire's top order at Headingley in his first appearance of the season.

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With three weeks to go until the first Test of the return series against the Black Caps, Hoggard wasted no time making a strong case for an early recall.

Swinging and seaming the ball to deadly effect, Hoggard had Michael Brown caught at short leg, then Jimmy Adams chopped on to his stumps. England Lions opener Michael Carberry edged low to fourth slip before John Crawley became victim No 4 — beaten by a ball which nipped back and hit off stump. Returning for a second spell after tea, he trapped Michael Lumb leg before with his first delivery.

Yorkshire coach Martyn Moxon was full of praise for the White Rose county's returning hero, saying: "Today will do him the world of good in terms of confidence. I thought he bowled beautifully after tea and I think he's back to what he's capable of."

Meanwhile, Flintoff suffered a setback in his own quest to return to the Test team following ankle surgery. But while his fast bowling has already been typically lethal, the runs have not flowed.

His one-ball innings against Somerset at Old Trafford brought his tally this season, including warm-up matches, to 128 runs in five visits to the crease, with one half-century.

The 30-year-old is striving for batting fluency to convince the selectors he is ready to face New Zealand at Lord's starting on May 15.

While one half of the New Zealand Test team are filling their wheelbarrows with cash from the Indian Premier League, the other half have emerged blinking into the early English spring.

Coach John Bracewell surfaced at Lord's on Thursday with an advanced guard and conceded it was not the perfect way to begin their two-month tour. The spine of their team — skipper Daniel Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram and Ross Taylor — will be drip-fed into the tour in a week's time when their various Twenty20 commitments in India end.

An assorted group of 13 others under temporary captain Jamie How will contest their first two matches, with the full complement available for games against Essex and the England Lions.

"It's not ideal but it's the reality of the landscape that we live in," said Bracewell, whose team will play three Tests and six limited over matches.

He tried to put the most positive gloss possible on the situation and admitted the disparity in earnings among his squad could cause problems. "All things have the potential to cause friction but our particular group understands it, and it's something we have discussed at length in recent months," he said.

New Zealand are trying to avenge last month's 2-1 Test series defeat, which Bracewell largely puts down to his bowlers running out of steam because his batsmen's stays at the crease gave them too little rest. He also acknowledged that, having played only nine Tests in two years, they desperately need to play more in the long format.