Cricket: Fleming so close as Black Caps build strong position

9.20am - By MARK GEENTY

LEEDS - New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming revived a ghost from the past but his team's enviable batting depth got them out of a tricky spot in the second cricket test against England here today.

Fleming fell for 97 within sight of his seventh test century as the tourists lost five for 91, then recovered to end day two 351 for six in another seesawing contest at Headingley.

Allrounder Chris Cairns was still there on 41, adding a rapid 58 with Brendon McCullum, 31 not out, as the tourists still held some cards after being sent in to bat.

Cairns' experience was needed most to stop the slide as he faced 53 balls and hit five fours.

For Fleming it was rewind several years, to when he had the worst conversion rate of 50s to 100s, when he tried to turn paceman Stephen Harmison to leg and offered a leading edge to his opposite Michael Vaughan at mid off.

Fleming hadn't been dismissed between 80 and 100 in more than three years, in that time scoring four of his six test hundreds as he put the conversion woes to rest.

It was the worst time for them to return as Fleming followed the brave Michael Papps back to pavilion after the pair added 169 in just over four hours to have England on the rack at 202 for one.

Papps made a memorable comeback after being unwanted for the first test at Lord's, blunting the England pacemen for 324 minutes for a career-best 86.

It was another bizarre day of test cricket highlighted by the boisterous Western Terraces crowd who unveiled the slow-motion Mexican wave and brought new meaning to the term "rain stopped play" when they used the strong wind to shower the pitch with shredded newspaper.

New Zealand were greeted by welcome clearer skies and England's fielders seemed intent on charity as both batsmen had royal letoffs early on and the bowlers struggled.

Papps was dropped on 36 for the third time when he cut a ball through Ashley Giles' hands at point, then in the next over Giles' replacement Paul Collingwood missed running out Fleming for 23 from 10m away.

Papps' innings was hardly memorable as the outswingers of Martin Saggers and the pace of Stephen Harmison ripped past the outside edge.

But he took some body blows and battled on, taking toll of Giles' spin through the off side, reaching 50 in 3-1/2 hours then passing his debut best 59.

He had batted exactly 80 overs and the second new ball was being unwrapped when Andrew Flintoff fired in a brutal yorker from around the wicket and trapped him dead in front.

Fleming meanwhile was his assured self but never dominant as the pair scored at just 2.6 per over.

He passed 50 for the 41st time in his test career, survived two close leg before wicket calls but kept his cool as another century beckoned.

But after trying to lift the rate in the final session he departed seven overs after Papps, and crucially the in-form Nathan Astle followed three balls later to a brilliant gully catch by Mark Butcher.

Scott Styris lofted Giles against the spin over long-on for six, but continued his poor tour in the next over when the lethal Harmison nicked him out for 21.

Jacob Oram made a good fist of his first test as a specialist batsman, his 39 off 74 balls including a hooked six off Harmison that soared over first slip.

Papps was later revealed to have suffered a suspected broken left little finger after being hit during his innings by Flintoff.

He was taken to hospital for x-rays at the end of play.

Fleming meanwhile was happy with New Zealand's situation.

"I think we're on top, just because of the graft it took to get to this position," Fleming said.

"It's not as fast a scoring ground as Lord's was, therefore to have 350-plus on the board has a lot of substance, because as we know Headingley can get unpredictable."

England were without their captain for the final 15 overs of the day, with Michael Vaughan departing his home ground to be with his wife Nichola for the birth of their first child.

He later announced the birth of a baby girl, called Tallulah Grace.

Scoreboard after the second day of the second cricket test between New Zealand and England at Headingley:


New Zealand
First innings (41-1 overnight)
M Richardson b Saggers 13
M Papps lbw b Flintoff 86
S Fleming c Vaughan b Harmison 97
N Astle c Butcher b Saggers 2
S Styris c Jones b Harmison 21
J Oram c Thorpe b Flintoff 39
C Cairns not out 41
B McCullum not out 31
Extras (5b, 14lb, 2w) 21
Total (for 6 wkts, 124 overs) 351

Fall: 33 (Richardson), 202 (Papps), 215 (Fleming), 215 (Astle), 263 (Styris), 293 (Oram).

Bowling: M Hoggard 23-4-78-0, S Harmison 31-7-65-2 (1w), A Flintoff 23-7-52-2, M Saggers 24-6-64-2 (1w), M Trescothick 2-0-3-0, A Giles 19-1-67-0, M Vaughan 2-0-3-0.

- NZPA