It was a battling innings which featured a healthy helping of trademark Harris shots square of either side of the wicket. By the tea break Harris was on 55 not out and Adam Parore 19 not out.

Harris reached the mark off 117 balls, in 157 minutes while hitting nine fours. His back foot square drive also brought up the 50 partnership between he and Adam Parore for the sixth wicket.

Rain forced the players from the field during the session for about 55 minutes and changes were made to the scheduling for the remainder of the day. Tea is now being taken at 3.40pm and play is to continue until 6.28pm.

New Zealand were 117/5 when they left the field. Harris was on 36 and Parore 12.

When they resumed Parore was lucky to get away with a mishit from Caddick's bowling. He shaped to play a ball to the leg-side but it squirted just out of reach of gully fieldsman Andrew Flintoff for four runs.

Two pulls to the boundary from Hoggard's bowling off successive deliveries helped Harris quickly regain the momentum of his innings.

Nasser Hussain called Mark Butcher into the attack to relieve Hoggard who finished with one for 47 from his 18 overs while left-arm spinner Ashley Giles came into the attack for the first time for the 49th over.

By that stage, just before the tea break, darkness the light was very touch and go although here there is the chance to turn on the floodlights to assist the chance for play.

New Zealand were right up against it at 117/5 with recalled player Chris Harris holding the innings together. He was 36 not out off 95 balls, 26 of them involved in scoring his first run.

Adam Parore, in his last Test, was 12 not out as New Zealand were attempting to recover from an early English onslaught that saw the first four wickets fall for 19 runs as Andrew Caddick cleaned up the top order, and just before lunch he trapped Craig McMillan leg before wicket to become the ninth English bowler to take 200 wickets.

After the resumption, Parore took successive boundaries, one to wide long on and the other behind square leg while Harris pulled Matthew Hoggard for four runs to bring up the New Zealand 100.

New Zealand umpire Doug Cowie had been called on to make some tough decisions during the morning and got them right with two appeals off the elbows of McMillan and Parore being fine calls.

However, Harris had a life when on 28 and a ball from Hoggard brushed his gloves before hitting his hip and rebounding to Mark Ramprakash at short leg. However, Cowie gave him not out.

When the rain break came, Caddick had four for 48.

The other English wicket-takers over 200 are: Ian Botham (383), Bob Willis (325), Fred Trueman (307), Derek Underwood (297), Brian Statham (252), Alec Bedser (236), Darren Gough (228) and John Snow (202).

New Zealand were reeling at 86/5 having chosen to bat first.

Caddick trapped Craig McMillan leg before wicket for 41 runs off the fourth ball of the last over of the session to end a recovery worth 67 valuable runs for the fifth wicket in partnership with Chris Harris. Harris was 17 not out at lunch.

Caddick had four for 28 from 10.4 overs.

It was a long, hard grind for McMillan and Harris as they attempted to gain something from the morning session for the home side.

Run-scoring was not top of their list of priorities as survival was the key against an England attack feeding on wickets and firing on adrenalin.

Caddick was firing from the outset with the scent of 200 Test wickets in his nostrils and his first spell left him one wicket short, having bowled 10 overs and taking three for 24.

Matthew Hoggard had one for eight in his first spell before changing to the northern end to relieve Caddick.

One loose over by Andrew Flintoff helped significantly in taking off pressure. Three leg-side balls were easily despatched to the square leg boundary by McMillan.

He backed that in Hoggard's next over with a flick to the backward square leg boundary while the most aggressive shot of the morning was a backfoot off drive for four in the same over.

Harris was much more deliberate, not only intent on restoring the innings but clearly realising that he was now in a grand position to capitalise on his opportunity to resume his Test career.

He took 26 balls to score his first run, a boundary squirted, in controlled style, through the gully region from Flintoff's bowling.

They scored their half century partnership in 61 minutes with McMillan scoring 33 and Harris nine.

Harris did, however, unleash a couple of reminders why he has scored so well in New Zealand domestic cricket over the last four or five seasons when peeling off two lovely cover and off-drives four boundaries off Hoggard's bowling.

Caddick came back for the last over before lunch as rain swept over the ground. The first ball was despatched to the mid-wicket boundary by McMillan but off the fourth ball Caddick had his revenge when trapping him leg before wicket with New Zealand 86/5.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming chose to bat first after winning his third toss of the National Bank Series and then was part of another poor batting effort at this ground.

Last year it was a last morning collapse when eight wickets fell for 10 runs to hand Pakistan victory and today the home side were in danger of testing the world record held by New Zealand of the lowest Test innings of 26, also scored on this ground.

Mark Richardson was first to go when bowled by a lovely ball from Andrew Caddick. It pitched outside his off stump and cut back through bat and pad to collect his wickets and send him on his way for five. The wicket fell with the score on 12.

Fleming then joined opener Lou Vincent but stayed only 11 minutes before he once again played a shot falling away to the off-side. Matthew Hoggard had a ball take the inside edge of Fleming's bat and onto his hip from where it rebounded to short-leg fieldsman Mark Ramprakash for the catch to be completed.

He scored one and New Zealand were on 17. In the next over, and on the same score, Caddick helped himself to Vincent's wicket when the batsman played a poor shot with a huge gap between bat and pad and paid the price when bowled for 10.

Nathan Astle scored two runs immediately but then got another good ball from Caddick which flew to the slips cordon and Graham Thorpe, at third slip, dived to his left to complete a grass top catch in front of second slip. The ball would have fallen short of second slip and it was a superb effort by Thorpe to get it.

The wicket was Caddick's 199th in Test cricket and at drinks he had three wickets for 16 runs off seven overs.

New Zealand were 19/4 but Craig McMillan took the score through to 25 at the break..

McMillan joined Chris Harris, who spent 22 balls attempting, without success, to score his first Test run in three years.

Hoggard's first spell ended with one for eight off his six overs as Andrew Flintoff came into the attack from the eastern end of the ground.

However, he decided to bat first for the first time in the series on a greenish-looking portable pitch.

The weather was fine, although there was the prospect of some rain during the day, in what has become typical Auckland fashion.

However, the worst fears of groundsman Warwick Sisson were not realised. He had feared that the forecast wet weather would provide problems in front of the ASB Stand on the northern side of the ground.

There have been severe drainage problems in this area of the ground and at the end of this rugby season the entire surface of the ground is to be dug up and replaced with a turf system that allows damaged grass to be rolled up in a strip and replaced immediately.

At the moment, drainage at the ground is all geared towards the rugby pitch, and the outer extremities of the ground are not catered for at all.

England has named the same team as played in the first two Tests while New Zealand named Ian Butler as 12th man.

That means Andre Adams will make his Test debut on his home ground while the New Zealand attack will be centred on Daryl Tuffey, Chris Drum, Adams and Daniel Vettori while there will be back-up support from Chris Harris, Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan.

The teams are:

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent, Chris Harris, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Andre Adams, Adam Parore, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey, Chris Drum. Ian Butler (12th man).

England: Nasser Hussain (captain), Mark Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Graham Thorpe, Mark Ramprakash, Andrew Flintoff, James Foster, Ashley Giles, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard. Craig White (12th man).

The umpires are: Doug Cowie and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India). The 3rd umpire is Tony Hill.

The match referee is Jackie Hendriks (West Indies).