Close England 82 for 6 in 30.1 overs (Pryor 3-29, Sewell 2-10) v Otago Queenstown is supposed to be the home of fun and adventure, but today England batted with all the co-ordination of a gaggle of hungover bungee-jumpers. In a day reduced to the equivalent of a session by the weather, and against the friendliest attack they will face all tour, they suffered a collapse of 5 for 23 in 10 overs and were relieved when rain stopped play for the day shortly after 4pm. Their only consolation is that the wickets they will bat on in the Tests are unlikely to be as mischievously green as this. But as consolations go, that's pretty small.

England's destroyers were Craig Pryor, a nippy medium-pacer who went to the same Auckland school as Martin Crowe and Mark Greatbatch, but has never remotely challenged for international honours; and David Sewell, a tallish left-arm seamer who played one Test in Zimbabwe in 1997-98 when he took 0 for 90 (he wasn't asked back). Haring in from the Coronet Peak End, Pryor made the ball dart around on a lively wicket to finish with 3 for 29, including Mark Ramprakash and Usman Afzaal in the same over. Sewell's first spell was 7-5-9-2, and it could have been even better.

The head groundsman had arrived at 2.30am in a vain effort to get the game started on time, but a heavy downpour prevented any play until after 1 o'clock, when the Otago captain, Craig Cumming, won the toss and had little hesitation in asking England to bat first. They got off to a steady start, but it looked more solid in the scorebook than it really was. Marcus Trescothick, who averaged less than 10 in the one-day series, struggled to get the strike, and when he did, he couldn't get the ball off the square, particularly against Sewell, who swung it past his outside edge again and again. Mark Butcher was more fluent, spanking a James McMillan full-toss through the covers, then cutting Sewell past point with a Headingley-style wave of his wand.

Butcher was dropped by Cumming in the gully off Sewell on 20 – but failed to make Otago pay. In the next over he was trapped leg-before by Pryor as he played all round the latest in a long line of inswinging yorkers and trudged off, eyes to the ground. England didn't know it at the time, but at 32 for 1 the collapse had only just begun.

Trescothick had faced just 21 balls out of 70 in the opening partnership, and he faced only 11 more before a booming drive off his tormentor Sewell flew straight to Pryor at first slip (39 for 2). Trescothick had scratched around for 6 in 32 deliveries and has now made 91 runs in seven innings – five of them in single-figures – since flaying India's bowlers all round the Wankhede. India seems like more than a month ago now.

Graham Thorpe pulled Pryor for four with a trademark leg-in-the-air swivel, but he too was troubled by some lavish seam movement, and an unsettled waft off Sewell was easily held by Brendon McCullum at second slip. Thorpe was out for 11 and England were getting edgy at 50 for 3. Five balls later, it was 50 for 4, when Ramprakash stayed back to a creeper from Pryor and got an inside edge onto his off stump. Two days ago he spoke about the benefits of a more positive approach; today he made 1 in 27 balls.

The innings was on a white-water raft to oblivion now, and in the same over Afzaal nibbled at Pryor and was caught behind for 0 (55 for 5). The Otago fielders could barely believe it and the England camp at the back of the stand was a flurry of pads, gloves and dazed faces.

Andrew Flintoff blazed away briefly and played the shot of the day – a rifle-crack of a straight-drive for four off Sewell – but he soon edged an attempted upper-cut off McMillan to the keeper to fall for 16 (69 for 6). Craig White and Warren Hegg held out until the rain returned seven balls after tea, but the damage had already been done.

With the forecast bad again for tomorrow and just five days' cricket left before the start of the first Test at Christchurch on March 13, England need to find some form – fast.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com. You can read his reports here throughout the tour.

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