Back into white clothes in the land of the long white cloud, England have cut their preparation time for the first Test in Hamilton next week to five playing days, two fewer even than their brief period of acclimatisation in Sri Lanka before Christmas.

For once that should be more or less irrelevant both because New Zealand is the one country in which English cricketers naturally feel at home and because their opponents in the two and three-day games being played in sylvan surroundings here this week are equally keen to remind themselves what two-innings cricket is all about.

Keen opposition, an excellent pitch and a pleasing ground with the feel of Fenner’s or the Parks suddenly removed to the Cumbrian Fells (or, perhaps, to Edinburgh with which Dunedin has so many associations) made for a satisfactory start to the Test leg of the tour yesterday. That was especially so for Owais Shah, who made a strong case for a Test batting place, and for the established pair of Alastair Cook and Ian Bell, who played impressively.

There were disturbing aspects, too. The two batsmen most in need of runs, Andrew Strauss and Tim Ambrose, made six between them. More pertinently, since both these two will get at least one other chance this week, it was disappointing that neither Cook nor Shah reached the hundred that both seemed certain to make, especially since the biggest problem during the first Test series of the winter was the complete lack of England centuries.

Not that there is time these days for anyone to “do a Boycott” – that is to use early games to get into the habit of playing long innings. Bell retired in the wider cause for 16 overs when 59 not out before returning to reach an unbeaten 75. He had played himself in with due care as junior partner to Shah before showing that both his footwork and the middle of his bat were in almost perfect working order.

Cook, hitting 17 fours, most of them initially to the leg side, but eventually all round the wicket, played with a fluency he had not managed on a slower pitch in the fifth one-day international last Saturday before driving a catch back to the bowler when on 85.

Cook alone scored at better than a run a ball, taking advantage of the trueness of the pitch and the perfection of a green outfield just big enough for this to have succeeded the old Carisbrook Stadium as the new ground for Test cricket in Dunedin. He is a wonderfully reliable player, but the same cannot be said of late either of Strauss or Michael Vaughan. Strauss was unlucky, hitting his wicket trying to stop a defensive stroke from spinning back on to his stumps but Vaughan, in his latest cameo, hit five crisp fours before pushing at a ball angled across him by Jordan Sheed.

It has generally been assumed that Strauss will resume his Test career after the brief intermission in Sri Lanka but Shah’s elegant innings must keep him under serious consideration. When he was 28 the accomplished wicketkeeper, Gareth Hopkins, looked as though he had completed a brilliant catch off his inside edge and on 38 he was dropped badly at mid-on off Mark Gillespie.

After falling for 96 to a crisp sweep to fine leg off Will Somerville, the promising off spinner, Shah said: “Runs on the board always count. I just hope that I can keep putting pressure on the selectors to pick me.”

The bowling attack eventually mastered by Shah, whose pulling and cutting were superb, was led by Iain O’Brien and Gillespie, competing for the final bowling place in the first Test in Hamilton, which starts next Tuesday.

Scoreboard

England XI: First Innings

A N Cook c and b Wells 85

A J Strauss hit wicket b Gillespie 4

*M P Vaughan c Hopkins b Sheed 27

O A Shah c Gillespie b Somerville 96

I R Bell not out 75

T R Ambrose c Haig b Somerville 2

P Mustard c Hopkins b Somerville 10

G P Swann c O'Brien b Gillespie 32

M J Hoggard b O'Brien 6

S J Harmison c and b Gillespie 8

M S Panesar not out 6

Extras lb 8, nb 10 18

Total (9 wkts, 90 overs) 369

S C J Broad and R J Sidebottom did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-114, 3-132, 4-276, 5-279, 6-294, 7-315, 8-335, 9-339.

Bowling: Gillespie 17-1-93-3; O'Brien 17-7-32-1; Lobb 12-1-59-0; Sheed 16-3-71-1; Wells 8-0-33-1; Somerville 20-2-73-3.

New Zealand Invitational XI: M D Bell, J W Sheed, M S Sinclair, S P Fleming, P G Fulton, S B Haig, L J Morgan, *G J Hopkins, S R Wells, M R Gillespie, W E R Somerville, I E O'Brien and D V Lobb.

Umpires: D M Quested and D J Walker.

Players per side: 13 (11 batting and 11 bowling).