MYLES HODGSON
Alastair Cook spearheaded an impressive catching and bowling display which gave England a narrow advantage at the end of the first day of their Test series against New Zealand.
The Essex left-hander is not renowned for his fielding, but claimed a hat-trick of good catches in the gully as the tourists restricted the Kiwis to 282 for six on a good batting wicket at the close.
Cook's three catches were his reward for endless fielding and catching drills in practice run by coach Peter Moores and his backroom staff, and ensured England exploited the few opportunities available during a tough opening day.
He set the tone with a sharp catch above his head to remove opener Matthew Bell, who had driven wildly at seamer Steve Harmison, and took an even better one diving low to his right to remove the dangerous Stephen Fleming.
Another sprawling effort earned Matthew Hoggard his first wicket when all-rounder Jacob Oram edged an attempted drive, and with Ryan Sidebottom striking in the penultimate over of the day to dismiss the explosive Brendon McCullum, England were satisfied with their first-day efforts at Seddon Park.
Moores said: "If anyone has watched the lads train, they've worked extremely hard on their catching and it's nice for them to get their reward, especially Cook because he's been working very hard on it.
"I've said all along that to improve skills like that you don't do them overnight, it's a long-term thing and you have to keep doing it to get better. Slowly but surely, Cook is getting better and better, and I don't think you'll see much better than his second catch."
Having lost the toss, England seemed destined for a long day in the field when New Zealand began their innings on a flat-looking pitch - a view which was underlined when Ian Bell was taken to hospital early in the day after suffering a nasty blow to his right hand at short leg.
However, by the time news filtered back to the team that Bell had suffered only severe bruising, they had already claimed a bonus wicket with Harmison making amends for another wayward opening spell with opener Bell driving loosely straight to Cook. His second catch, 10 overs after the interval, lifted England's spirits even further, and another good take saw the end of Mathew Sinclair, who was superbly held by Paul Collingwood in his delivery stride after the New Zealand No.4 drove back down the pitch.
Collingwood's safe hands at slip then ended the resistance of opener Jamie How, who had battled for 251 minutes to reach 92 but edged a turning delivery from Monty Panesar. Cook completed his haul of catches shortly after tea when Oram drove loosely.
Just as England appeared set to dominate, McCullum got into his full stride, with the type of strokeplay which lit up New Zealand's recent one-day series success over England.
The wicketkeeper raced to his half-century off only 53 balls, which included five fours and two sixes, but with only 11 balls remaining, he chased a wider delivery from Sidebottom with the new ball, edged behind to debutant wicketkeeper Ambrose.
The only disappointments for England were two fielding lapses when throws to Ambrose missed their target and raced for four overthrows. The lacklustre display of Harmison would have been a major concern had the other members of the attack not contributed a remarkable 18 maidens between them.
Moores was happy enough with the day's work. He said: "You're not going to frighten anyone out on that pitch. You've got to be able to put it in the right area and create pressure knowing that it looks a good pitch and we should be able to get a good score if we get some batters in on it."
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