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Hamilton, New Zealand: England, tied down by accurate New Zealand spin bowling, crawled to 286 for 6 at the close on the third day of the first Test yesterday.
The touring side trailed their hosts by 184 runs with 2 days to play. Paul Collingwood was unbeaten on 41 with debutant Tim Ambrose on 23 at the close after Michael Vaughan (63), Andrew Strauss (43), Ian Bell (25) and Kevin Pietersen (42) were dismissed during the day.
England scored at barely two runs per over as New Zealand bowled a tight line and length with spinners Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel extracting prodigious turn and steep bounce from the pitch.
Vettori finished with figures of 2 for 60 off 38 overs and Jacob Oram conceded only 18 runs from 16 overs. Of the 93 overs bowled in the day, 34 were maidens.
Difficult conditions
"The conditions didn't allow for the free flowing batsmen to go out there and score runs," Pietersen said. "If a few of us had played our normal game and got out for 10 or 15 or single figures we could have been in a lot of trouble, sitting here tonight.
"We got asked to bat the whole day. We got asked to fight and to scrap and we did. To lose just four wickets in an entire day is a fantastic effort."
The naturally aggressive Pietersen, who smashed his third ball for six, was tied down by the bowlers and exhibited signs of frustration at his inability to push the scoring along.
He was eventually dismissed when a Vettori delivery ballooned off his pad from his bat and the New Zealand captain took a diving return catch.
Pietersen's 42 came off 131 balls, a strike rate of 32.06, less than half his career record of 64.68 runs per 100 balls.
Collingwood, who took 25 deliveries to get off the mark, guided England past the follow-on mark of 270, but was also lucky to be at the crease after Brendon McCullum missed a stumping when a ball from Patel reared sharply and hit his shoulder.
"I actually think we bowled really well, and that made it hard for them to score," said Patel.
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