England shade it on Day One

A determined unbeaten 52* from Mark Butcher and 59 from Marcus Trescothick have given England the initiative on a first day of the first npower Test against Zimbabwe at Lord's that was curtailed by rain and bad light.

A Test Series that has been courted by controversy on many counts for the past few weeks finally stuttered into life at 12.05pm, eighty minutes late, after persistent drizzle led to the covers staying on (and off, and back on again..) longer than had been hoped for.

England gave debuts to Yorkshire's batting all-rounder Anthony McGrath and Lancashire seamer James Anderson, whilst Zimbabwe also saw one new cap, Midlands all-rounder Sean Ervine. England went with three seamers and picked the experience and spin option of Ashley Giles over James Kirtley.

Visiting captain Heath Streak won the toss and, given the murky overhead conditions and residual moisture in the pitch after the overnight rainfall, it was not a surprise to anyone when they sent England in, and the captain took the new ball alongside Andy Blignaut. England's openers were above all watchful in the morning session, and Michael Vaughan in particular looked awkward on more than one occasion, with both Blignaut and Streak beating the bat. Encouragingly, Marcus Trescothick was showing signs of form, with some trademark punches down the ground. England reached lunch after the shortened session at 28/0.

Vaughan continued to look out-of-touch after lunch, but showed some of the form he'd displayed last year with a textbook cover drive off Heath Streak off his 41st ball. The 42nd bowled him. It was an innocuous enough looking delivery from Streak that was heading well down legside as Vaughan (8) attempted to flick it round the corner. Unluckily for the Yorkshire opener, it flicked his thighpad and was deflected onto the stumps, and England were one down.

New batsman Mark Butcher was soon off the mark, punishing a poor ball and receiving four off it. Marcus Trescothick (59) was looking in good nick, but his confidence got the better of him when he chased a wide-ish one from Andy Blignaut around the wicket and sliced it high and fast to debutant Sean Ervine at second slip, who took it well. Zimbabwe greeted Nasser Hussain with a juicy leg-stump half-volley from Douglas Hondo, and the Essex man was only too happy to get off the mark. They'd given him another by tea and England reached it at 138/2.

The introduction of Travis Friend brought immediate reward as Nasser Hussain (19) hooked wildly at his first ball, a bouncer, and only succeeded in guiding it into Doug Hondo's hands at long leg. Mark Butcher (52*) kept battling away, however, and by the time he reached his fifty off another Zimbabwe no-ball - one of their fifteen of the day - he had been let off twice. First up, he was lucky to get away with a strong LBW shout after Hondo beat him all ends up with a sraighter one. Captain Streak saw him dropped at slip by Sean Ervine diving to his right. Robert Key was unbeaten on 11* alongside him at the close of play with England on 184/3.

England will be highly satisfied with their day's work in difficult batting conditions, and will want to take this on tomorrow and rack up 300 or 400 and put real pressure upon the Zimbabweans, who bowled well in patches but too often let the pressure off the hosts with long hops and half volleys. Not the greatest of days in Test Cricket, but things are nicely poised for tomorrow.

England 184/3 (ME Trescothick 59, MA Butcher 52*)

Posted by Neil