England struggle again

Hoping to make amends for their desperate performance in Saturday's opener, when New Zealand claimed their six wickets triumph with 20 overs to spare, England were dismissed for 158 in a match reduced to 36 overs a side by a two hours and 20 minutes rain interruption.

Alastair Cook and Phil Mustard gave England a flying start and even after losing two wickets off successive balls, they were well placed for a competitive score after reaching 85 for two after 15 overs when rain halted play with Cook and Kevin Pietersen scoring fluently at the crease.

But England never recovered from batting out a maiden to Jacob Oram from the first over after the re-start and lost eight for 73 in 20 overs with only Cook and Stuart Broad offering any great resistance to New Zealand's attack.

Pietersen was given lbw to seamer Michael Mason and captain Paul Collingwood was dismissed in a senseless run out after he pushed Mason past point and set off for a quick two only to be beaten back to his crease by Jacob Oram's throw from the deep.

Owais Shah fell in Mason's next over when a full-length delivery nipped back and clipped his off-stump, but the low point of England's innings came seven overs later after an awful mix-up between Essex pair Cook and Ravi Bopara.

Cook had batted impressively to reach 53 off 69 balls, which included six fours, when he was called for a single when Bopara drove New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori straight to Ross Taylor at cover. Left-handed opener Cook set off for the run but soon gave up when he realised he was several yards short.

Bopara, scratchy throughout his innings of 23, could only watch on helplessly as Graeme Swann edged Vettori behind attempting to cut in his next over.

Just as Stuart Broad gave England renewed hope of reaching a competitive total by reversing Vettori for four and then pulling Kyle Mills to fine leg for another boundary, Bopara's innings came to an end when he chipped a leg-side full toss straight to mid-wicket.

Ryan Sidebottom completed another hat-trick of England run-outs and England's innings came to a halt with only four overs of the innings completed when Broad was caught at deep extra cover for a spirited 23 off 31 balls.