J "I MANCHESTER.

England. Aug 7: New Zealand

I gained the upper hand over Eng-

J land on Friday as they pushed for their first Test victory at Old Trafford, reports Reuters.

Solid batting by Matthew Horne. Matthew Bell and Stephen Fleming on the second day of the third Test propelled them to 128 for two in reply to England's hard-earned first innings total of 199.

New Zealand made the unpredictable pitch look much less difficult to master — in sharp contrast to the funeral pace of England's batting.

England wasted their best chance of an early breakthrough when opener Horne was dropped by Graham Thorpe at slip before he was off the mark. He went on to make a bright 39. with seven fours.

Fleming, who maintained the tempo with 38. looked distinctly unhappy to be given out leg before to off-spinner Peter Such near the close.

Bell reached 31 not out, his highest score in nine Test in-

England's laborious innings included a 72-minute duck by Such, the second longest in Test history.

Only New Zealander Geoff Allolt has spent longer at the crease before being dismissed for nought — 101 minutes

against South Africa in Auckland in March.

Remarkably. Such shared the second highest partnership of the innings. 31 for the ninth wicket with Mark Ramprakash.

After receiving an ovation from the crowd for his defiance. Such said: ’’I felt a bit embarrassed to raise my bat walking off but everyone was standing up and clapping so I felt 1 had to. I just concentrated on hanging in there as long as possible."

Ramprakash's unbeaten 69 was his best in a home Test and comfortably the top score of an innings in which the total took more than 109 overs to compile;

Only 29 came from the first 20 overs of the day. During this period Chris Harris, playing for the first time in the series, dismissed nightwatchman Dean Headley for a stubborn 18 and wicketkeeper Chris Read for a duck in the space of four balls.

Harris then ran out Andy Carrick for 12. before Such and Phil Tufnell, who took 30 minutes for one run. stayed put while Ramprakash added valuable runs.

New Zealand captain Fleming said: "We're happy with our work so far. though there's an awful lot of cricket to be played. It's particularly pleasing after having lost the toss. We were more positive, that was the

SCOREBOARD

Scoreboard on the second