TEST MATCH: RAIN AND bad light notwithstanding, there might have been life in the first Test had England's bowlers made sufficient inroads into the New Zealand second innings in the hour allowed them late yesterday after Michael Vaughan's determined century, the 18th of his career, had helped them to a first-innings lead of 42.

But Jamie How and Aaron Redmond put on 40 without being parted and it will take some inspired bowling this morning to force a win.

The weather was brighter yesterday, although offset by a biting easterly blowing in over Regent's Park, but overall the cricket was no less gloomy as the ball still nibbled around. It took England 10 more overs to reach the Kiwi total of 277 than the visitors had taken.

That they got there at all, and managed to extend their score to 319 before Vaughan was the last man out, was down to an opening partnership of 122 between Andrew Strauss (63) and Alastair Cook (61) and further stands of 59 for the seventh wicket between the captain and Stuart Broad and of 48 for the eighth involving Ryan Sidebottom.

Duncan Fletcher would have been chortling at this stiff resistance after a double strike by Daniel Vettori had reduced England to 208 for six. Vettori bowled superbly, and when Vaughan finally swatted him to deep midwicket for 106 it brought him his fifth wicket - his first such haul against England - and took him to 250 Test wickets. Five for 69 was no less than he deserved.

Of all the England players perhaps only Ian Bell can match Vaughan for the sort of casual ease which seems to suit Lord's and its decorum so readily. This was an innings characterised by the same determination that brought him his Headingley century on his return to Tests after his last knee surgery, for his results have been modest this year, with his start to the season for Yorkshire unpromising.

There was a point to prove, having sailed close enough to the wind recently to prompt speculation, almost as if he was testing his ability to respond accordingly. This, though, was no adrenaline-fuelled effort culminating in a two-finger - or in the case of Nasser Hussain once, three-finger - salute to any detractors. Instead, as he danced in carefree fashion down the pitch to Vettori and dragged the ball to the midwicket boundary to reach three figures, a smile of satisfaction creased his face: it was that decorum for a decorous place.

His innings had lasted nearly five hours and there were 11 boundaries: drives, clips off his legs, some nice dabs to third man as Vettori strayed fractionally, and one further boundary lofted over mid-on to greet a new spell from the New Zealand captain.

If he played and missed, it was not often - one outrageous delivery from Jacob Oram that clambered past at shoulder height evoked memories of the old Lord's ridge and brought broad grins from both protagonists - and he was sorely tried only twice, when on 30 Chris Martin appeared to have him lbw only for Steve Bucknor to rule that the point of impact with his front pad was marginally outside off stump, and then on 64 when Redmond, at second slip, was slow going away to his right to collect a sharp chance off the bowling of Tim Southee. That apart, he was immaculate. This was his sixth hundred at Lord's, a feat matched only by Graham Gooch, and from only 19 innings compared with Gooch's 39.

Yet Vaughan's innings, and to an extent those of Strauss and Cook, cannot mask the inconsistency that seems to dog the England top six as a unit. Both openers played well to lay the foundations for what ought to have been an attempt at parity by tea and a push thereafter to try to establish a strong lead quickly to leave time to bowl the visitors out once more. Cook, though, got a fine ball from Martin and Strauss was lbw to Oram to spark a steady decline that saw Kevin Pietersen lbw to Vettori and Bell getting another fine ball from Martin. Paul Collingwood and Tim Ambrose followed by succumbing to successive deliveries from Vettori.

This in itself was intriguing. Spinners, by convention, have favoured ends at Lord's, the off-spinner preferring to come from the Pavilion so the slope will help the ball into the right-hander, and similarly the left-armer from the Nursery.

It pays not to be too rigid in this, though, for a counterargument says, if the ball spins, the slope becomes an irrelevance or can even be used profitably to help the arm ball. Intuitively - and with the wind in his face to aid his flight and drift - Vettori chose the Pavilion, sent down a scintillating maiden to Vaughan that stretched the England captain, and then with the first two deliveries of his next over had Collingwood taken at slip and Ambrose lbw offering no stroke. Brilliant.

• Guardian Service

Scoreboard at Lord's

Overnight: New Zealand 277 (B B McCullum 97; R J Sidebottom 4-55).

England 89-0 (A N Cook 53 no).

England: First Innings (continued):

A J Strauss lbw b Oram 63

A N Cook c McCullum b Martin 61

M P Vaughan c Marshall b Vettori 106

K P Pietersen lbw b Vettori 3 I

R Bell c McCullum b Martin 16

P D Collingwood c Taylor b Vettori 6

T R Ambrose lbw b Vettori 0

S C J Broad b Oram 25

R J Sidebottom c Taylor b Mills 16

M S Panesar c Flynn b Vettori 0

J M Anderson not out 0

Extrasb3 lb7 w1 nb12 23

Total(111.3 overs) 319

Fall: 1-121, 2-148, 3-152, 4-180, 5-208, 6-208, 7-269, 8-317, 9-318.

Bowling: Martin 32-8-76-2; Mills 22-3-60-1; Southee 16-2-59-0; Oram 19-5-45-2; Vettori 22.3-4-69-5.

New Zealand: Second Innings:

J M How not out 26

A J Redmond not out 14

Extraspens 0 0

Total0 wkts (15 overs) 40

J A H Marshall, L R P L Taylor, B B McCullum, D R Flynn,

J D P Oram, D L Vettori, T G Southee, K D Mills, C S Martin.

Bowling: Sidebottom 4-2-7-0; Anderson 2-0-10-0; Broad 4-0-19-0; Panesar 5-2-4-0.