It may turn out to be no bad thing for England that they had such a chastening day at the start of a three-day game that could still end in embarrassment for them in Dunedin tomorrow despite a determined innings from Andrew Strauss and five wickets for Stephen Harmison.

In both cases - Harmison’s five for 100 and Strauss’s first 50 for England since his 96 against India in the first Test of the last home series - success will have restored self esteem and confidence at an important time for themselves and the touring team. Their performances, albeit only half convincing in Harmison’s case, have also served more or less to settle England’s team for the first Test which, despite some injuries and setbacks on the field, looks like being exactly the one that was first intended.

A recurrance of Chris Tremlett’s side injury put a decisive end to his challenge to Harmison’s place and he will return home as soon as a suitable flight can be booked.

Before they make any other decisions about the Test team, Ryan Sidebottom must prove his recovery from a hamstring strain but there is confidence that he will. He had to be restrained by the physiotherapist from taking the field yesterday so he obviously feels keen to get back on. Matthew Hoggard also has to get over a stomach upset that caused him to leave the field to be sick after his only spell. Equally it will need Paul Collingwood to get over a minor injury - also a strained right hamstring - but that he did not take the field today was a precaution and he is due to bat tomorrow, uncertain weather permitting.

The possibility that either Tremlett or Stuart Broad might win the place that Harmison regained in Sri Lanka before Christmas has receded, not only with his own increasingly confident and accurate bowling today but also with the latest breakdown of the unfortunate Tremlett. Hampshire’s frail giant bowled a decent spell at something like his fastest pace when play started after lunch but it was clear towards the end of it that he was feeling renewed pain in his left side and he duly left the field for treatment.A return to the Test side had seemed possible for him only 24 hours previously.

The conclusion from an eventful day is that Strauss for Ravi Bopara and Tim Ambrose for Matt Prior will be the only differences between England’s elevens at Galle in December and Hamilton in March.

Time at the wicket and runs on the board were what Strauss needed. He looked compact and organised while batting for 146 minutes until bad light intervened on a second day that was delayed by light morning rain. It was less encouraging for England that both Michael Vaughan, forward to a good length ball, and Alastair Cook, top edging a hook, were victims of a lively new ball spell by Mark Gillespie, but Kevin Pietersen hit some magnificent strokes in a counter-attacking innings that included three sixes and made sure that England would end the day ahead, even though they still faced a battle not to lose.

Harmison, typically, got better the longer he bowled. He is an old fashioned sort of English sportsman, modest to a fault and strangely diffident for a man who has taken 211 wickets in 56 Tests. He admitted that he had been looking over his shoulder at Tremlett, that he was not (and still is not) certain of playing in Hamilton and that he is still experimenting with various aspects of his action. He would probably be better off bowling naturally and without too much thought but he seems to have become heavily dependent on the wise counsel of the bowling coach, Ottis Gibson.

"At this moment in time I'm still trying to find my feet and find the right length on these wickets because I've only been in the country eight days," he said.

"I wouldn't have swapped coming here late for the world but I am the sort of bowler that does take time to being used to being in a different country and I feel I've acclimatised better than I thought I would which is a bonus.

"There were some quick balls, there were some good balls but there some bad balls in there as well but the more I've gone on during this trip so far there have been more good balls in an over than bad balls so I've got to be relatively happy."

"We were scratching our heads at one point to look at who else was going to have a bowl," he added. "Hoggy was sick, Tremlett was off injured and we weren't sure who was going to bowl with the new ball, but I enjoyed it and I feel like I'm getting better and to get five wickets is great."