Cricket: Papps soldiers on as NZ reach 41-1 in Headingley gloom

7.52am - By MARK GEENTY

LEEDS - New Zealand's cricket team are praying for a rare fine morning tomorrow after they escaped from a gloomy opening day of the second test against England with minimal carnage here today.

The tourists survived 19 tricky overs from England's pacemen under heavy grey Headingley skies to be 41 for one at stumps, having lost only the big wicket of opener Mark Richardson for 13.

Recalled Michael Papps survived two dropped catches to dig in 79 minutes for 24 not out, with captain Stephen Fleming on three.

After a frustrating day of rain and bad light, New Zealand were on the right end of the scoreline according to allrounder Jacob Oram, playing as a batsman after a side strain ruled him out of bowling.

"If the weather forecast is the way it's supposed to be then this was the worst day and we've almost got through scot-free," Oram said.

"We've got nine wickets in the bank and hoping to bat for all of tomorrow and get a good first innings score on the board.

"Headingley's notorious for being a bowler's ground when it's overcast like today, and almost chameleon like in that it changes when the sun comes out and it's good for batting."

Fleming lost the all-important toss and England's four pacemen gleefully honed in but weren't always on target as the ball took several overs to start swinging dangerously.

For Papps it was a pressure time in just his fourth test, summoned after Craig McMillan was ruled out with a broken finger, and with scores of nought and 20 from his warmup innings against Leicestershire.

The nerves were eased first ball when he calmly worked England's spearhead Stephen Harmison behind square for four and was given some leg stump charity from a wayward Matthew Hoggard early on.

At the other end Richardson was composed, cracked a magnificent cover driven boundary off Hoggard and took a nasty blow between the shoulder blades from Andrew Flintoff.

The opening stand lasted an hour before the relatively unknown Martin Saggers made a fairytale return to the test scene.

Eight months after his debut test against Bangladesh in Chittagong, the Kent paceman's first ball swung through the gate as Richardson tried to drive, and hit middle stump.

He did what his teammates couldn't for 13-1/2 hours in the first test at Lord's when Richardson scored 93 and 101.

"I just wanted to make sure it was a ball he could play at," said Saggers, 32, who drifted around several county sides before breaking through at Kent.

"To be honest I didn't see too much of the Lord's game. I looked at a few tapes to see what he's done, but it just was nice to get him out early."

Saggers was only confirmed on match eve when speedster Simon Jones was ruled out of the series with a foot injury.

Papps meanwhile was worked over and on 15 had a life when Harmison found the edge low to Mark Butcher who shelled the chance at gully.

On 20, Graham Thorpe dropped a sitter at chest height at third slip off Hoggard and it seemed it was Papps' day.

Although the rain cleared for the final session, just two overs were bowled before Fleming took the umpires' offer of bad light.

There was a cynical school of thought that the England Cricket Board were applying pressure to complete 25 overs, having collected £180,000 ($537,634) in gate receipts.

Their regulations guarantee a 50 per cent refund for the punters if 25 overs aren't completed in a day, meaning it cost them £90,000.

But despite several efforts to return, the light was deemed too poor by umpires Steve Bucknor and Simon Taufel.

Scoreboard after the first day of the second test between New Zealand and England at Headingley on Thursday:

New Zealand
First innings
M Richardson b Saggers 13
M Papps not out 24
S Fleming not out 3
Extras (1lb) 1
Total (for 1 wkt, 19 overs) 41

Fall: 33 (Richardson).

Bowling: M Hoggard 8-2-21-0, S Harmison 7-2-13-0, A Flintoff 2-1-2-0, M Saggers 2-1-4-1.

- NZPA