Rain chaos stalls England at Lord’s as New Zealand slumps to 55-5 chasing 254

LONDON (AP) — Rain frustrated England’s charge to victory against New Zealand in their test series opener at a damp Lord’s on Saturday.

Fast bowler Ollie Robinson took the only two wickets in the 9.4 overs of play allowed all day and New Zealand was reduced to 55-5 in its second innings in an unlikely pursuit of a 254-run target on a stop-start day three.

England was five wickets away from taking a 1-0 lead in the three-test series.

Play on a grim, grey Saturday didn’t start for two hours, and then was broken up by three more bouts of rain, the last of them just after 2 p.m. that eventually prevented any more action.

The unpredictable seamers’ paradise of a pitch continued to offer movement every which way and, on Saturday, considerable lift. The batters, 35 of whom have fallen in less than two days of normal play, had little hope. Two of the greatest, Joe Root and Kane Williamson, the all-time highest run-scorers for England and New Zealand, combined for 27 runs.

New Zealand’s chase was undermined out of the gate on Friday when it was 36-3 by stumps. At that point, one stats provider put England’s chances of winning at 80%, and that percentage was closer to 100 on Saturday afternoon.

Opener Devon Conway, on 12 overnight, was joined by Rachin Ravindra. He avoided a king pair — golden ducks in both innings — and a regulation pair and took 10 more balls to get off the mark.

But Ravindra was undone on 8 by a peach that Robinson got to nip away, completing a test to forget for the Kiwi, who also dropped two catches.

He was replaced by Daryl Mitchell, who was out lbw for a three-ball duck when Robinson rapped him on the front pad.

Conway, who scored 200 on his test debut at Lord’s in 2021, scratched out 19 from 55 balls, and Tom Blundell was beside him on 2.

Robinson had 2-18 and his sixth and seventh wickets in his comeback match.

The forecast on Sunday was for no rain.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket