Cricket / Second Test: Elegant Crowe creates chance for the Kiwis: England's battling bowlers are held at bay by a revitalised batsman whose hundred prevents New Zealand from folding

New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .316-4

England

IT WAS not what the brochure promised but few of the 20,000 present at the second Test yesterday will be asking Roger Cook to doorstep Lord's to complain - though Cook vs the Lord's gatemen would be a contest to savour.

This match is not quite as enticing but at least it is a contest as England, far from putting the boot in as Michael Atherton hoped, were blocked by a one-legged batsman who stamped his class on the summer with a marvellous innings.

New Zealand may be a poor and inexperienced side but in Martin Crowe they have one of the world's best and most elegant batsman. Yesterday he rose to the responsibility of being his team's main hope by batting nearly five hours for an unbeaten 133. With the maturing Shane Thomson, Crowe has put on 178 for the fifth wicket, lifting his team from 138 for 4 to 316 for 4 and creating a chance to keep the series alive.

The century was Crowe's 16th in Tests but his first since 1992. Since then a dodgy knee has become a persistent problem, restricting his movement and needs 20 minutes massage before each innings just to get the joint moving. Batting at No 4 can make that a pretty tight schedule and yesterday he had barely got on to the couch before Angus Fraser brought his sixth ball back down the hill and had Bryan Young leg before without score.

Blair Pocock, recalled ahead of Mark Greatbatch, at least gave Crowe time for a full work-out although he did little more than survive as both Fraser and Phillip DeFreitas found early movement. Then, having done the hard part - he laboriously played himself in with 26 scoreless balls - he chipped a catch to Robin Smith at silly point in Peter Such's first over.

Lunch came with 65 on the board and, when Rutherford edged DeFreitas to slip during the second over after the break, New Zealand were 67 for 3 and in danger of folding.

At this stage, with Crowe gently reacquainting himself with Lord's, the tourists were given valuable impetus by Stephen Fleming. Still only 21, and with a century at HQ already under his belt this tour, the left-hander outscored Crowe two-to-one before missing an ambitious drive at Fraser.

With Thomson, though occasionally both troubled and tempted by Craig White, doing his best to curb his customary adventure, Crowe took control. Having gone to 50 in 110 balls, he went to his century in 47 more. Such, White and Fraser were all lifted into the Mound Stand on the leg side. The third six included his 5,000th Test run (at an average of 47.67), the second was judged by the cameras.

The partnership is a New Zealand record for the fifth wicket against England, beating Bev Congdon and Vic Pollard's 177 at Trent Bridge 21 years ago.

'It was (Crowe's) burning ambition on this tour to score a hundred at Lord's,' the New Zealand manager, Geoff Howarth, said. 'He felt his injury a bit and said he was sore at tea but it is the mark of a great batsman that he can have a niggle and carry on like that.'

'When you consider he was batting on one leg it was quite an innings,' said the England coach, Keith Fletcher, who added that only Fraser and DeFreitas had bowled to the required standard.

Atherton clearly felt the same as Paul Taylor, who had been picked ahead of Richard Stemp, and Craig White bowled only 23 overs between them, while even Gooch himself was asked to creak his arm over for five overs while Graeme Hick had a rare first- day outing.

White, while now running, rather than lolloping in, is still to show the aggression he displays for Yorkshire. He also became the latest to discover that Ian Botham's old position has lost some of its magical properties. Having dismissed Crowe with a Botham-style leg-side long-hop at Trent Bridge, he tried to repeat the trick yesterday only to see the ball disappear to the boundary each time. While unlucky against Thomson, there was little evidence to suggest he is yet capable of being a third seamer at Test level.

Still, he and Taylor will both get another chance today. If there was a consolation yesterday, it was that it was far more valuable for the bowlers and those examining them than the rout at Trent Bridge. There are tougher sides ahead and a bad day at the office will not do any harm.

(New Zealand won toss)

NEW ZEALAND -First Innings

B A Young lbw b Fraser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

(4 min, 6 balls)

B A Pocock c Smith b Such. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

(88 min, 64 balls, 1 four)

* K R Rutherford c Stewart b DeFreitas. . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

(121 min, 83 balls, 7 fours)

M D Crowe not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

(291 min, 210 balls, 19 fours, 3 sixes)

S P Fleming lbw b Fraser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

(90 min, 69 balls, 7 fours)

S A Thomson not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

(160 min, 127 balls, 12 fours)

Extras (b1 lb8 w1 nb17). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Total (for 4, 381 min, 90 overs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Fall: 1-0 (Young), 2-39 (Pocock), 3-67 (Rutherford), 4-138 (Fleming).

To bat: A C Parore, M N Hart, D J Nash, C Pringle, M B Owens.

Bowling: Fraser 22-5-66-2 (nb10) (7-3-5-1, 4- 0-14-0, 5-1-19-1, 3-1-18-0, 3-0-10-0), DeFreitas 19-7-58-1 (nb3) (9-4-15-0, 6-3-15-1, 4-0-28-0), Taylor 12-1-48-0 (nb6) (5-0-22-0, 7-1-26-0), Such 19-5-59-1 (4-2-12-1, 9-3-32-0, 4-0-10-0, 2- 0-5-0), White 11-1-54-0 (w1) (2-1-4-0, 4-0-23-0, 5-0-27-0), Gooch 5-1-13-0 (1-0-2-0, 4-1-11-0), Hick 2-0-9-0 (one spell).

Progress: 50 101 min, 22.5 overs. Lunch 65-2 (Rutherford 37, Crowe 9) 28 overs. 100 171 min, 39 overs. 150 231 min, 51.2 overs. Tea 160-4 (Crowe 48, Thomson 5) 55 overs. 200 270 min, 62.2 overs. 250 315 min, 71.4 overs. 300 n 364 min, 84.4 overs.

Crowe's 50 156 min, 110 balls, 9 fours. 100 233 min, 157 balls, 16 fours, 2 sixes. Thomson's 50 111 min, 86 balls, 10 fours.

England: *M A Atherton, A J Stewart, R A Smith, G A Gooch, G A Hick, C White, S J Rhodes, P A J DeFreitas, A R C Fraser, J P Taylor, P M Such.

Umpires: S A Bucknor and N T Plews. Third umpire: R Palmer.

Match referee: C H Lloyd.

(Photograph omitted)