KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand bowlers toiled with limited success on a slow-moving third day of their tour cricket match against England A at Southampton today.
By stumps at The Rose Bowl England A had reached 275 for five off 77 overs, handing them an overall lead of 282 with five wickets in hand heading into the final day.
Such was the limited impact of the New Zealand bowlers, the tourists' highlights came in the opening 9.5 overs of the day when opener Aaron Redmond extended his career-high innings from 139 overnight to 146 before he was trapped lbw by seamer Graham Onions to be the last man out with the total at 273.
New Zealand added 12 runs, with Chris Martin unbeaten on four.
England set about building on their seven-run first innings lead in methodical fashion, with opener Michael Carberry compiling a steady 100 before he was forced to retire with cramp, suffered seemingly while celebrating his 4-1/2 hour ton.
A day before the England selectors name their team for the first test starting at Lord's on Thursday, Carberry impressed most while there were contributions from wicketkeeper Matt Prior with a lively 47 and test prospects Owais Shah, 43, and Robert Key 30.
Four of the five wickets to fall were lbw dismissals on a wicket offering slightly variable bounce.
Despite figures of one for 107 off 22 overs, Jeetan Patel was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers in the absence of injured spinner and captain Daniel Vettori although he came in for some stick late in the day as the English accelerated.
Martin took two for 46 while Tim Southee and Jacob Oram bagged a wicket each. Redmond bowled 12 overs of leg spin with little penetration.
Seamer Iain O'Brien didn't bowl as he is nursing a sore calf muscle. It was unclear whether the injury would impact on his test selection hopes.
The hosts are likely to declare early on the final day tomorrow to set up a run chase.
- NZPA
