Strauss' Ton Gives England A Six-Wicket Win Over New Zealand In The 2nd Test At Old Trafford

Opener Andrew Strauss struck a fine hundred (106) as England beat New Zealand by six wickets to go 1-0 up in the three Test series at Old Trafford.

Needing 294 for victory, England moved on to 171-2 at lunch on day 4 with opener Andrew Strauss going strong on 73 not out and scoring his third consecutive fifty of the series while captain Michael Vaughan played a solid knock of 48.

But once Vaughan was out, Strauss added 85 for the third wicket with Kevin Pietersen (42) to take the team within striking distance.

Once Strauss was out, Ian Bell (21*) and Paul Collingwood (27*) finished off the formalities to leave New Zealand high and dry.

In retrospect, New Zealand will rue the loss as it was they who were ahead on the first innings with a big lead of 179. But a poor second innings performance of 114 all out gave England a great chance of sneaking back into the Test match as Strauss scored his second hundred against Kiwis this year to put England ahead in the series.

SCOREBOARD
New Zealand 1st Innings 381

New Zealand 2nd Innings 114

England 1st Innings 202

England 2nd Innings
Andrew Strauss c R Taylor b I Brien 106
Alastair Cook c J Marshall b D Vettori 28
Michael Vaughan c B McCullum b C Martin 48
Kevin Pietersen run out (I Brien) 42
Ian Bell not out 21
Paul Collingwood not out 27
Extras: b - 9, w - 0, nb - 6, lb - 10 25
Total:(297 for 4 in 88 overs) 297 Run Rate: 3.38

Fall Of Wickets
1/60 (Alastair Cook, 20.5 ov.), 2/150 (Michael Vaughan, 50.2 ov.), 3/235 (Andrew Strauss, 69.4 ov.), 4/248 (Kevin Pietersen, 72.2 ov.)

Bowling: New Zealand
Chris Martin 13 1 45 1
Kyle Mills 6 0 17 0
Daniel Vettori 35 7 111 1
Iain O'Brien 20 3 62 1
Jamie How 1 0 4 0
Jacob Oram 13 1 39 0