The fourth session of the second Test fell victim to the weather, going the way of the entire first day, which was abandoned at lunchtime without the teams even being named never mind a ball bowled.

The playing square was much too wet to begin play on the second day. After an early inspection the umpires agreed to look at the pitch again after lunch.

All Wednesday night the blustery northerly wind had buffeted the city, sending rain in swathes across the Basin Reserve, and it continued unabated throughout the day and into the evening. So great was the danger of the covers blowing away that the groundsman Trevor Jackson had parked the heavy roller, a tractor, trailer, and assorted golf buggies on the tarpaulins to hold them down.

Play was never an option and well before the scheduled start word had reached everyone, including the 3,000 or so England supporters, that the umpires Steve Dunne and Darrell Hair and the match referee Jackie Hendriks would be calling it a day after the necessary inspection protocols had been observed.

At 12.30 they emerged from the dressing room and stood in the middle of the ground breasting the wind and rain like mariners rounding Cape Horn. It took them 30 seconds to make their decision and beat a hasty retreat.

Three and a half days is plenty, of course, for a result in this high-octane cricketing day and age. The principal consequence of the lost day is that the follow-on figure drops from 200 to 150 runs.

Jackson, however, is of the opinion that given the lack of preparation that has gone into his pitch because of the weather, and the fact that the Basin this year has been a bowlers' paradise (the New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming's battling 88 for Wellington against Northern Districts before the first Test is the highest individual score this summer) even four days might be over-egging it.

Three he feels will be more than adequate, which after the pyrotechnics of the final two days in Jade Stadium will come as welcome respite for the put-upon bowlers of both sides.

The loss of the opening day did aid Mark Butcher's recovery from injury. The Surrey batsman fractured his right thumb during the last day of the Christchurch Test and, had the match started yesterday, would probably have been forced to sit it out with the Yorkshire all-rounder Craig White his likely replacement. The extra time given to Butcher due to the delayed start may have been enough for him to make a full recovery.

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