Novices hint at bright future

Ross Taylor celebrates after reaching three figures for the first time in his brief Test career

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Watch Ryan Sidebottom at the end of day press conference and report on ECBtv

Peter Moores has referred to this England side as “an emerging team” but, on the evidence of the first two days’ play in Hamilton, the same could be said of New Zealand.

Jamie How is hardly a youngster at 26, but this is only his seventh Test, and Ross Taylor had played just two matches coming into this game.

Yet these two novices were the central figures in New Zealand’s first innings, How compiling a patient 92 on the opening day and Taylor recording his maiden Test century early on the second to help their side to a total of 470 at Seddon Park.

Their contributions went a long way to justifying the selectors’ faith - both players, lest we forget, had been recalled to the team - as they search for a solution to the problems concerning the make-up of the New Zealand top order.

In doing so, How and Taylor may also have provided a sneak preview of the future of New Zealand cricket.

Onlookers could not fail to have been impressed by the manner in which they went about their batting, patience and shot selection the most notable features of both innings.

How batted with immense common sense, eschewing any strokes carrying even the slightest semblance of risk during more than four hours at the crease.

Jamie How spent five hours over his vital 92 on day one

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And the manner in which Taylor - alongside Daniel Vettori, who made 88 - ended England’s hopes of restricting New Zealand to a manageable total said much for his astute cricketing brain and even temperament.

Admittedly, a rash swipe at Kevin Pietersen brought about Taylor’s downfall, but by then he had 120 runs to his name.

He faced 235 balls in total, 18 of which disappeared to the boundary courtesy of largely orthodox strokes.

His straight-driving - courtesy of an impeccably high front elbow - was particularly eye-catching, and he rarely missed out on an opportunity to pull or cut if England’s increasingly weary bowlers dropped short.

Much like How 24 hours previously, Taylor provided the tourists with numerous demonstrations of his compact defence, although it must be noted that conditions - a placid pitch and clear blue sky - were weighted heavily in the batsmen’s favour.

Taylor drives in style, a feature of his well-paced innings

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His dismissal aside, there was no sign of the cross-batted mows over midwicket that marked Taylor’s batting in the recent one-day series against England.

But England’s bowlers and backroom staff are sure to have noted - if they had not done so already - his fondness for the leg side and a slight tendency to play across the line to balls of fuller length.

A couple of lbw shouts early in his innings, and another off the first ball of the second day, may well have been answered in the affirmative by less forgiving umpires.

It is a reflection of the quality of his innings that these instances were the closest the tourists came to prizing him from the crease.

He denied them for more than five hours over two days, batting with such composure that one could not help but wonder why he was dropped from the side for the Test series against Bangladesh in January.

How had been overlooked since late 2006 after failing to pass 50 in his first 10 innings, but his and Taylor’s performance here suggested that the New Zealand selectors would be well advised not to make the same mistake again.