Sidebottom strikes to boost England

New Zealand looked to have overcome a late afternoon flurry of wickets with Ross Taylor and in-form Brendon McCullum combining in a productive 85-run sixth wicket stand.

But with only 11 balls remaining in the first day, left-arm seamer Sidebottom struck to remove McCullum and leave New Zealand on 282 for six after winning the toss and batting first on an ideal batting surface.

The tourists seemed destined for a long day in the field with little success to show for it during the early stages with England suffering an early setback with Ian Bell being forced off the field after being struck on the arm at short leg.

But only four overs later Steve Harmison lifted England's spirits by claiming a breakthrough when opener Matthew Bell drove to Alastair Cook in the gully.

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 former captain Stephen Fleming and opener Jamie How forged a 64-run stand.

But just as Fleming 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.

Paul Collingwood built on that breakthrough nine overs later, when Mathew Sinclair drove back down the pitch and the Durham all-rounder took a smart catch off his own bowling.

England made further progress after tea when How pushed forward and edged left-arm spinner Monty Panesar behind and was caught low at slip by Collingwood for 92. Eight overs later, Jacob Oram (10) attempted to drive Matthew Hoggard to the boundary, but Cook once again took a magnificent catch.

McCullum showed glimpses of the form he had shown in the recent one-day series triumph and raced to his half-century off only 53 balls before edging a wide delivery from Sidebottom to debutant wicketkeeeper Tim Ambrose for 51.