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England come unstuck
Watch the close of play press conference with Peter Moores on ECBtv.
England's preparation for the opening Test against New Zealand suffered a setback after they were dominated with bat and ball by a strong Selection XI in their final warm-up match.
Having selected a line-up as close as possible to their expected side for the opening Test in Hamilton, England were looking for solid performances throughout to boost their preparations for next week.
But instead a re-shuffled batting order struggled as they were dismissed for a lowly 131 in helpful bowling conditions in Dunedin - and then their attack failed to exploit those same conditions as the Selection XI reached 177 for four by the close of the opening day.
With less than a week before the three-Test series begins, it was hardly the performance coach Peter Moores or captain Michael Vaughan were looking for from a side missing only injured left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom.
Having been put into bat by the Selection XI, which included eight players who could feature in New Zealand's Test squad next week, England never really recovered from losing Vaughan to a second-ball duck when he edged behind pushing forward to seamer Iain O'Brien.
Vaughan's dismissal was the first of four catches for wicketkeeper Bevan Griggs as the select XI used seaming conditions to their advantage and put England under immediate pressure.
Andrew Strauss, an opener throughout his 43-Test England career, was moved to number three to allow Vaughan and Alastair Cook to continue their successful opening partnership formed in Sri Lanka before Christmas.
But Strauss, desperate for runs after a run of 25 Test innings without a century, scored only five before mis-timing an attempted pull which looped high in the air to allow Jamie How to take the catch running back from the slips.
It continued a theme with both Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood edging behind pushing forward, while Kevin Pietersen hit nine boundaries in his half-century before also edging behind attempting an aggressive drive off seamer Mark Orchard shortly before lunch.
O'Brien finished with 4-34 while Mark Gillespie, his rival for a Test spot, claimed 3-62 as England were dismissed at the start of the 41st over, leaving several members of their top-order desperately short of batting practice.
Instead of taking their lead from the Select XI's attack, however, England's seamers bowled short and allowed openers Matthew Bell and How to forge a 98-run partnership.
The tourists would have hoped Steve Harmison and Chris Tremlett, who are also rivals for a Test place, would respond in a similar manner to their Select XI counterparts but instead both struggled to find the right line and length.
Tremlett was given the new ball but failed to make an impact and Harmison once again struggled for rhythm and was hit for 37 runs in his opening seven overs.
The breakthrough finally came from Matthew Hoggard, the pick of England's attack in the two-day match earlier this week, who tempted Bell into edging behind for 40 having hit six fours and a six in his innings.
Hampshire seamer Tremlett responded by having How caught at third man after an upper cut for 65 and wickets in successive overs flattered England's display with Collingwood winning an lbw appeal against Peter Fulton and Harmison having Taylor caught at slip.
