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Kiwis hold firm after Saggers strikes
New Zealand were 41 for one in their first innings at the close of the first day of the second Test against England at Headingley on Thursday.
Martin Saggers took a wicket with his first ball in his home England debut but New Zealand survived a weather-affected opening day of the second Test at Headingley without further loss on Thursday.
At stumps New Zealand were 41 for one after England captain Michael Vaughan won the toss and chose to field.
Michael Papps, dropped twice, was 24 not out and captain Stephen Fleming three not out when bad light forced the last of several stoppages at 1554GMT.
Kent paceman Saggers, 32, ended the day with figures of one wicket for four runs off two overs after dismissing first Test centurion Mark Richardson.
His one previous Test was against Bangladesh at Chittagong in November where he had match figures of three for 62.
Saggers was only playing after Simon Jones was ruled out Thursday for this match and the third and final Test at Trent Bridge, with a foot injury.
He had been a late call-up to the squad on Tuesday after Lancashire fast bowler James Anderson withdrew with a heel problem.
Only 19 overs out of a scheduled 90 were bowled, the crowd witnessing just 79 minutes of actual play.
That meant the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) were set to hand back half the day's 180,000 pounds worth of gate receipts to spectators as they had seen fewer than 25 overs play.
New Zealand, 36 for one when an early tea was taken, resumed after rain had kept the players off the field for over two hours.
Papps, called up into the team after Craig McMillan was ruled out with a broken finger, was 20 not out.
Fleming, doubtful for this match with an ear infection and who had moved back down to number three so Papps could open, was two not out.
Saggers, who swung the ball in overcast conditions, bowled the first over after the break to a field featuring four slips and two gullies.
But Papps still squeezed the ball down to the third man boundary before bad light forced the players off.
England might have been in an even stronger position had not Papps been dropped by both Mark Butcher and Graham Thorpe.
Papps, on 15, edged fast bowler Stephen Harmison but Butcher, diving forward at fourth slip, failed to hold the difficult, low catch with New Zealand 20 without loss.
He had added just five more runs to his total when he edged Yorkshire's Matthew Hoggard at comfortable height only for Butcher's Surrey team-mate Thorpe to floor the third-slip chance.
Vaughan was back in place of the retired Nasser Hussain after missing England's seven-wicket first Test victory at Lord's with a knee injury.
Obdurate left-hander Richardson, who ground out 93 and 101 at Lord's, had a lucky break when on 13 his inside edge off Harmison struck short leg Andrew Strauss on the helmet before the fieldsman had a chance to react.
But Saggers, England's fourth bowler, made the breakthrough soon afterwards with a full and swinging delivery that Richardson could not keep out.
England (from): Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Mark Butcher, Michael Vaughan (captain), Graham Thorpe, Andrew Flintoff, Geraint Jones, Ashley Giles, Matthew Hoggard, Stephen Harmison, Martin Saggers, Paul Collingwood.
New Zealand (from): Mark Richardson, Michael Papps, Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum, Chris Cairns, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, Chris Martin.
