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Pietersen century rescues England against New Zealand

05/06/2008

A fighting century from Kevin Pietersen rescued England from a disastrous position against New Zealand in the third Test at Trent Bridge today.

England were struggling on 85/6, before Pietersen (115) and wicket-keeper Tim Ambrose (67) came together and shared in a brilliant 161 run partnership. Both batsmen fell late in the day as England finished on 273/7.

Daniel Vettori won the toss for New Zealand and he decided to bowl first. His decision paid off quickly as the out-of-form Alastair Cook inside edged a ball onto his stumps off the bowling of Kyle Mills.

England skipper Michael Vaughan came to the crease and cracked three boundaries off one Chris Martin over. But that was as good as it got for Vaughan, who went for 16 as he had his stumps shattered by a straight ball from Iain O'Brien.

Andrew Strauss and Pietersen started the England recovery as they battled hard against some accurate seam bowling to guide their team to 84/2 at lunch.

But things went badly wrong for England straight after lunch as they lost three wickets in the space of the 13 balls and two runs.

First Strauss was out for 37 after he chased a wide ball from Mills and was caught by Ross Taylor at second slip. Under-pressure pair Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood's awful run of form continued as they both went for a duck. Bell was out lbw to O'Brien and Collingwood edged behind to Taylor from a Mills delivery.

England were in real danger of being dismissed before tea, but were rescued by a crucial partnership from Pietersen and Ambrose. Both players played a number of delightful shots to edge England towards a competitive total.

By the time Pietersen was caught by New Zealand wicket-keeper Gareth Hopkins from the bowling of O'Brien, England had reached 247. The same New Zealand duo combined again to get rid of Ambrose soon after.

Stuart Broad (15) and James Anderson (1) were the unbeaten batsmen for England at the end of the day's play.