In a game they are desperate to win to put a respectable gloss on an uneven winter’s work, England began this third Test with another disturbingly fragile performance with bat and ball. If Test and series are lost, the schizophrenic mood of this tour party should not be ignored. Something is not right.

But for a tenacious century from Kevin Pietersen, the one champion runmaker in the side, and an innings of immense promise from Stuart Broad, a tremulous batting effort might have proved statistically even more ignominious than the 81 all out in Galle in December or the 110 all out in Hamilton earlier this month.

To make matters worse, Stephen Fleming threw caution to the wind to race to his 45th Test half-century and bring confidence among the bowlers to the low depths already being plumbed by the batsmen. England’s latest failure with the bat came against an attack shorn of two inform fast bowlers and obliged to call on uncapped players as replacements, the highly-rated teenager Tim Southee and Grant Elliott, one of the more innocuous seamers to come on as first change in Test cricket. Off-spinner Jeetan Patel had played twice before.

The pitch was regarded as excellent for batting, provided the first hour could be safely negotiated. It could not. After seven overs, England had been again surprised by New Zealand’s energy and purpose, and were reeling at seven for three. In a city famous for art deco, this was pure gothic horror.

England did well to recover to 240 for seven by stumps, but hopes that the fightback might continue when play resumed earlier today were dashed as the last three wickets crashed in 25 balls. Two fell to Southee to give him outstanding figures of five for 55 (the best by a New Zealander on debut for 57 years) and star status. His first ball was right on target and induced Broad to edge to the keeper and he finished the innings by bouncing out Ryan Sidebottom.

Sidebottom immediately hit back to have Matthew Bell leg-before offering no stroke, but Fleming and Jamie How continued the aggressive tactics that have pushed England onto the back foot for much of this series. They plundered 45, including nine fours and a six, from three Jimmy Anderson overs.

Sensing the opposition’s vulnerability, Fleming threw caution to the wind in his final Test appearance and raced to 50 in 53 balls. That he was missed by Andrew Strauss at slip on 44 only heightened England’s sense of panic and New Zealand entered the lunch break in relative comfort at 93 for one.

Given the situation at the fall of the third England wicket, this must rank as one of Pietersen’s finest innings. It was his 11th hundred in 36 Tests, though only his third overseas. Of necessity, the wider crisis overrode Pietersen’s own impatience to record a first Test half-century of the winter. He played with a classic mix of defence and attack that ought to have been a lesson to his colleagues in the top six, only one of whom (Alastair Cook) has managed a century during this troubled winter.

Barring a massive collective improvement in the second innings, at least one change must now surely be made to the top six for the Lord’s Test in May. Strauss, who fell for nought to his former Northern Districts teammate Southee, is the likeliest victim, having averaged 19.4 since his questionable recall, but the form of others may also merit scrutiny, notably Ian Bell and the captain, Michael Vaughan.

One day England appear guilty of arrogance, the next they look timid and lacking in self-be-lief. Theories abound as to what is going wrong but possibly the most persuasive is that the enthusiasm for employing Test and one-day specialists – including dividing the captaincy between Vaughan and Paul Collingwood – is seriously disrupting the equilibrium of the side.

It is certainly striking that all the Test specialists – Vaughan, Strauss, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison and Monty Pane-sar – have all had disappointing winters. Indeed, Hoggard and Harmison are no longer even in the team and Strauss may soon join them on the sidelines.

With the programme frequently switching from one format to another, these five have perhaps suffered from not playing continuously at international level, even though some of them attempted to get up to speed for tours by playing cricket at domestic level in South Africa and New Zealand, or with England Lions.

Broad’s runs here will only increase his chances of a prolonged run in the Test side and increase the pressure on Hoggard and Harmison, neither of whom possess his talent with the bat. Bearing in mind the promise it held for the future, Broad’s innings was every bit as significant as Pietersen’s. In two previous Test appearances, he had not done much with the bat but here, when England needed him to hold firm, he displayed a cool head and cultured technique.

Like Pietersen, Broad used his height to get forward to the spinners while dealing capably off the back with the faster men. His first boundary was a clip off his hip and equally impressive was the way he took on the second new ball. It had just accounted for Pietersen, who had cut Southee to gully, but when Southee dropped short Broad had no hesitation in hooking him twice in succession for four and then six. That took cojones.

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