Strauss's England rehabilitation lasts just 17 balls - and five runs

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England sprang a couple of surprises in their line-up for the three-day match against a Select XI that started here last night at the University Oval, principle among them the decision to bat Strauss at three while leaving the opening combination of Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook in place.

It looked a clear indication of their thinking for the first Test in Hamilton next Wednesday but Strauss was left looking over his shoulder at Owais Shah, omitted here, after he attempted to pull Iain O'Brien in the sixth over of last night's game and succeeded only in top edging to third slip.

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Strauss had talked on the eve of the match about how moving to three for the first time since his early days with Middlesex was not too different from opening, and he duly found himself at the crease in the second over when Vaughan was dismissed for a second ball duck.

Strauss, left out of England's tour of Sri Lanka after a barren year, made a confident start in clipping his first ball for four off his legs but his ascendancy was shortlived as O'Brien, competing with his opening partner Mark Gillespie here for a place in the New Zealand side, induced a mistake from one of the shorter balls on which Strauss usually thrives to dismiss him for five.

He remains the hot favourite to play in Hamilton ahead of Shah but his inclusion will now become an issue if he does not score second innings runs here, particularly as Shah hit 96 in the first warm-up game on Monday.

Strauss had earlier been at pains to point out that he had not been confirmed in the Test line-up just yet, but captain Vaughan said he wanted to take as close to his Hamilton line-up as possible into the second warm-up match, meaning Strauss would have to perform particularly badly here.

Vaughan had previously intimated that he was going to move back to his preferred position of three with Strauss opening again with Cook but England have had a rethink because the two left-handers are both essentially accumulators, a factor which may have led Strauss to lose his focus last year by trying to be the aggressor, a la Marcus Trescothick, when batting with Cook.

England 131 (K Pietersen 50, I O'Brien 4-34) v New Zealand Selection XI 177-4 (J How 65).

"Possibly it was easier for the bowlers to settle into a rhythm against Alastair and myself because we have a similar style," said Strauss. "We feel Alastair and Vaughany could give us a better launchpad because they worked well as a combination in Sri Lanka.

"Batting at three is not something I have done a lot of but it is exciting and a new challenge. I've never seen why an opener has to be pigeon-holed as such when other batsmen can come and go in the order. At three I could come in when the ball is at its hardest, which I would be used to, or hopefully when the guys have built a nice platform for me."

The decline of Strauss, which began when he was overlooked for the Ashes captaincy last winter in favour of Andrew Flintoff, may in part have been caused by bowlers "finding him out" and starving him of the width and short of a length deliveries on which he thrives. Yet he feels the problem was more mental and that now he is "hungry, motivated and ready to go". having been recalled for this New Zealand tour in place of Ravi Bopara.

"I have done a bit of technical work but more than anything it has been a case of refreshing the mind," said Strauss, 30. "I haven't had the chance to force my way back through a weight of runs but what I have been able to do is take a step back and think about how things have gone well in the past and where they have gone badly. It has given me a bit of perspective.

"When you are in the goldfish bowl you can get a bit sidetracked by what people are saying about you but when you are out you can say to yourself 'was I focused on what I needed to focus on?'

"Maybe I strayed away from my gameplan but it was one that had worked well for me for 11 or 12 years so it would be suicidal to change things around now. I feel quite strongly that there's no reason why I can't continue playing the way I did at the start of my Test career. I just feel that the last 12 months have been one of those times that cricketers have and most bounce back from."

Chris Tremlett, meanwhile, has a chance to do what he did at Lord's against India last summer and leap straight into the Test team having not been selected in the original squad. His inclusion to play here in Dunedin is clearly a reflection on how badly Steve Harmison played in the first warm-up game because Tremlett is seen as the closest alternative to Harmison in terms of his pace and bounce.

If Ryan Sidebottom is unfit to play in Hamilton he is most likely to be replaced by Stuart Broad or Jimmy Anderson but if Harmison's radar is wonky again over the next three days, and Tremlett bowls well here, then England are clearly inclined to leave out the one-time world beater who never seems to get right at the start of a tour.

Ian Bell, who batted at three in Sri Lanka, was due to move down to five against the Invitation XI with Paul Collingwood, surprisingly, dropping to six.

England: Cook, Vaughan (capt), Strauss, Pietersen, Bell, Collingwood, Ambrose (wkt), Tremlett, Hoggard, Harmison, Panesar.