England were chasing 297 to make New Zealand bat again. The Kiwis earlier declared their first innings on 496 for nine after Craig McDermott completed his century.

Alec Stewart was 47 not out and Graham Thorpe unbeaten on zero when rain began to fall. Former captains Mike Atherton and Stewart led the fightback for England with an unbroken stand of 79.

Scoreboard

England (1st innings) 199

New Zealand (1st innings): M Horne b Caddick 39, M Bell c Atherton b Headley 83, S Fleming lbw b Such 38, N Astle c Such b Caddick 101, R Twose lbw b Such 20, C McMillan not out 107, A Parore c Butcher b Such 10, C Cairns c Caddick b Tufnell 41, D Nash c Caddick b Such 26, C Harris b Tufnell 3, D Vettori not out 2; Extras (b6, lb17, nb3) 26

Total (for 9 wickets declared) 496

Fall of wickets: 1-46,2-110, 3-263, 4-280, 5-321, 6-331,7-425, 8-476, 9-487.

Bowling: A Caddick 39-11-112-2, D Headley 31-4-115-1, P Tufnell 46-12-111-2, P Such 41-11-114-4, G Hick 1-0-8-0, M Butcher 2-0-13-0.

England (2nd innings):

Mark Butcher lbw b Nash 9, Mike Atherton c Astle b Vettori 48, Alec Stewart batting 47, Graham Thorpe batting 0; Extras (b9, lb5) 14.

Total (for 2 wickets in 43.2 overs) 118

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-118.

Bowling: Chris Cairns 8-1-39-0, Dion Nash 10-3-26-1, Nathan Astle 3-1-7-0, Daniel Vettori 13.2-6-17-1, Chris Harris 9-2-15-0.