Cricket: NZ flat as Hussain leads England home

7.15am - By MARK GEENTY

LONDON - New Zealand's coveted Lord's cricketing double remains a dream after England's toughest street fighter Nasser Hussain jolted the tourists awake today.

Former captain Hussain bit back at his critics who suggested he was on the way out at age 36 with a gusty unbeaten 103 as England stormed back to win the first test by seven wickets at Lord's.

Chasing 282 to win, England recovered from 35 for two as Hussain, opener Andrew Strauss and Graham Thorpe denied a lukewarm New Zealand bowling attack lacking bite on a variable final day pitch.

Hussain and Thorpe added an unbroken for the fourth wicket, Thorpe ending 51 not out as Hussain brought up his century with a cover-driven four off Chris Martin then repeated the shot to win it with eight overs left. He hit 15 fours, batted 294 minutes and faced 204 balls.

Even a terrible mix-up between Hussain and Strauss, which saw the opener run out by Chris Cairns for 83 as he aimed for back to back centuries on debut, failed to swing the match New Zealand's way.

England defied the history books with their highest successful run chase at Lord's, and fifth-best of all time, topping the previous best of 216 also against New Zealand in 1965.

The result left New Zealand needing to win the final two tests at Leeds and Nottingham to repeat their 1999 series win here which included a nine-wicket victory at Lord's.

They will sweat on the improving fitness of fast bowler Shane Bond who missed this match in his back injury recovery and left New Zealand notably lacking punch.

It all looked hopeful for the tourists in the first hour as the Lord's crowd swelled to 20,000-plus for a fifth straight day.

Daryl Tuffey snaffled stand-in captain Marcus Trescothick to a sharp caught and bowled for two then Martin, relegated to first change behind Jacob Oram, struck with his third ball as Mark Butcher offered Stephen Fleming a comfortable catch at slip.

Sadly that was New Zealand's last success with the ball as Oram and Styris applied good pressure after lunch, Daniel Vettori caused occasional problems into the footmarks, but the edges flew just wide of fielders.

After Tuffey's first five-over spell he wasn't required again until the horse had bolted, while Martin was well off his match-winning form from the South Africa series.

New Zealand's problems with overstepping struck again -- 13 no-balls to go with 18 in the first innings.

Strauss, fresh from his 112 in the first innings, hit 13 boundaries in his 83 and was poised to do what only West Indian Lawrence Rowe and Pakistan's Yasir Hameed had done with two centuries on debut.

At 143 for two, Hussain pushed to backward point and called, Strauss hesitated and when the dust had settled Cairns relayed to Brendon McCullum and it was all over.

Hussain was dropped by wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum off a Cairns no-ball on 29 in the previous over.

While Hussain could have folded, it only hardened him up as he and Thorpe coolly went about finishing the job.

He reached 50 off 158 balls just after tea as the score ticked over 200, and with just three runs an over required New Zealand were gone.

Scoreboard after the fifth day of the first test between New Zealand and England at Lord's:

New Zealand

First innings 386

Second innings 336

England

First innings 441

Second innings (8-0 overnight)

M Trescothick c and b Tuffey 2

A Strauss run out 83

M Butcher c Fleming b Martin 6

N Hussain not out 103

G Thorpe not out 51

Extras (7b, 12lb, 5w, 13nb) 37

Total (for 3 wkts, 87 overs) 282

Fall: 18 (Trescothick), 35 (Butcher), 143 (Strauss).

Bowling: J Oram 15-4-39-0 (5nb), D Tuffey 10-3-32-1, D Vettori 25-5-53-0, C Martin 18-2-75-1 (5nb, 5w), S Styris 13-5-37-0 (1nb), C Cairns 6-0-27-0 (2nb).

Result: England won by seven wickets, lead three-match series 1-0.

Man of the match: Andrew Strauss (England).

- NZPA