England's Tim Ambrose makes his ground against New Zealand on the first day of the second Test at Basin Reserve in Wellington, yesterday. - AP

WELLINGTON, New Zealand

(AP):

PAUL COLLINGWOOD and Tim Ambrose combined to steady the England innings after a top-order collapse on the opening day of the second Test against New Zealand yesterday.

England followed a wicketless first session with a second session which cost them the cream of their batting line-up, before a 155-run partnership between Collingwood and Ambrose saved them from embarrassment and propelled them to 291 for five at stumps.

Bowled first

From 79-0 at lunch, England tumbled to 156 for five at tea after New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bowl first.

At stumps, Collingwood was 48 not out and Ambrose was unbeaten on 97 with 15 boundaries and two sixes, poised for his first Test century in only his third Test innings.

Before lunch, the ball seemed to do very little, despite a favourable pitch and overhead conditions.

Immediately after lunch, every delivery seemed to swing or seam, the New Zealanders found steepling bounce and batting became a tenuous and short-lived activity.

Ambrose and Collingwood both struggled against accurate, sometimes hostile bowling at the start of their innings, but as they persevered, seeing off the immediate threat of the New Zealand attack, they grew in confidence, batting through the last session almost without offering a chance and extending England's innings into the second day, when the pitch should be ideal for batting, in a relatively even position.

Whether the England collapse during the second session was due to bad batting or good bowling may have been debated by the substantial Barmy Army and the considerable number of New Zealand supporters who gathered for the 48th Test at the Basin Reserve. No New Zealand venue has hosted more Test matches.

England's top-order batsmen showed a tendency in the first Test to get themselves out after making sound starts and that trend continued in Wellington with Alastair Cook making 44, Michael Vaughan 32, Kevin Pietersen 31, Ian Bell 11 and Andrew Strauss eight.

The catalyst for the change in fortunes after lunch was the lanky all-rounder Jacob Oram who captured the wickets of openers Cook and Vaughan.

New Zealand's bowlers had performed with textbook efficiency in the first Test at Hamilton, which they won by 189 runs; bowling consistent line and length and carefully targeting the perceived vulnerabilities of each England batsman.

The enlarged New Zealand seam attack, bolstered by the inclusion of Mark Gillespie at the expense of spinner Jeetan Patel, mixed its line and length in the opening session yesterday, pitched fuller and became much more wicket hungry, allowing the England openers to survive until lunch without major difficulty.

Oram's ball with which he bowled Vaughan was the best of the day, angling into middle stump, hitting the seam and jagging back to off, striking the top of the off stump.