England forced to dig in

Trent Boult celebrates taking the wicket of England's Jonathan Trott
16 May 2013

England grafted their way to a teatime 113 for three on a ponderous first day of the Investec Test series against New Zealand.

The 0-0 stalemate between these two teams in March eventually contained a thrilling, if not decisive, denouement in Auckland.

Here, on a pitch apparently no quicker or more responsive than those which attracted criticism in Dunedin and Wellington, another slow-burner was barely flickering into life at the start of this much-anticipated Ashes summer.

England lost an opener in each of the first two sessions - Nick Compton running out of patience before lunch, and Alastair Cook undone by Trent Boult's swing and a fine catch behind by BJ Watling in early afternoon.

Then the departure too of Jonathan Trott tipped the balance marginally towards the Kiwis, after Cook had chosen to bat in his first home Test as captain.

New Zealand bowled skilfully to test England's top order with swing and keep the scoring rate to a trickle. Cook and Compton left well against Boult and Tim Southee with the new ball, and it was not until New Zealand turned to Bruce Martin's left-arm spin after 20 overs that the first breakthrough came.

Compton did not get to the pitch but went through anyway with an attempt to hit over the off-side infield, and skewed a catch to point from a delivery that turned a little.

Trott was dropped off his own bowling by Martin and Cook then did not last long after lunch, pushing forward and edging Boult to a diving Watling to end a 115-ball stay.

Trott was joined by a determined Ian Bell for a stand which eventually saw England crawl into three figures in the 50th over.

Soon afterwards, though, Trott was gone - squared up on the back foot by Boult and edging low to third slip, where Dean Brownlie took a very good catch.

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