Sidebottom boosts England

Nottinghamshire's left-arm seamer removed former county captain Stephen Fleming in the second over after lunch just as New Zealand looked set to build a major first innings total after winning the toss and batting first on a flat wicket at Seddon Park.

Sidebottom's success helped England restrict New Zealand to 122 for two by mid-afternoon following an incident-packed opening day, when they also lost Ian Bell to a freak injury in the field.

Warwickshire batsman Bell suffered a badly-bruised right hand attempting to protect himself at short leg in the 11th over of the match when opener Matthew Bell pulled a short ball from Sidebottom straight at him.

Bell was taken off the pitch by physiotherapist Kirk Russell and transferred to hospital for x-rays amid fears he may have broken his hand, which would have ruled him out for the remainder of the series.

But the x-rays failed to reveal a fracture and Bell, who was standing around five paces from the bat at the time, is due to to receive ice treatment for the remainder of the day before being re-assessed.

That incident capped a disappointing first session for England, who had hoped for a vibrant start to the series after the disappointments of successive series defeats to India and Sri Lanka.

Spearhead Steve Harmison claimed an unexpected first breakthrough of the day in the 14th over when opener Bell, who had hit fours off his previous two deliveries, drove to Alastair Cook in the gully.

But despite taking that wicket, Harmison failed to find his rhythm and was increasingly wayward and failed to generate his usual pace during a seven-over spell which cost 33 runs.

England captain Michael Vaughan was becoming increasingly frustrated at their failure to build on Harmison's breakthrough and used five different bowlers inside the first 26 overs as Fleming and opener Jamie How forged a 64-run stand. But just as Fleming, who is due to retire from international cricket at the end of this series, set his sights on a half-century, he attempted to cut a wide delivery from Sidebottom and was caught low down in the gully by Cook for 41.