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England frustrated by Lord's drizzle

17/05/2008

Grey and miserable weather ruined the third day's play in the Lord's Test between England and New Zealand.

Only 8.5 overs were possible in an hour's play during the morning session, leaving the most likely result a draw as England advanced to 89-0 in reply to New Zealand's 277.

The highlight of the day was Alastair Cook's half-century, his tenth Test 50, with a high-class boundary off the back foot. He moved to 53 not out off 87 balls with Andrew Strauss unbeaten at the other end on 31 at stumps.

The New Zealand bowlers were unlucky not to get their first wicket of the Test summer. Chris Martin beat the bat several times but neither he (0-36) nor Kyle Mills (0-19) managed to produce a breakthrough.

Bad light and persistent light drizzle conspired to keep the players off the field from shortly after noon and play was abandoned for the day after 17:00 BST.

Fortunately the weather forecast is much better for tomorrow. Sunny intervals should give England the opportunity to press on quickly, despite the prospect of a rain-affected draw now ominously clouding over proceedings.