Close England 400 for 8 (Vaughan 156, Hussain 69, White 53*) lead Canterbury 218 for 8 dec by 182 runs
scorecard

Painful right shoulder? What painful right shoulder? On a perfect day at the Hagley Oval, Michael Vaughan played the perfect innings, dispelling with style any concerns that the injury he picked up during the fourth one-dayer at Auckland would hamper his batting. Vaughan drove, cut and pulled with such textbook timing that you wondered whether MCC might consider doing a special run on their coaching manual in the local bookshops. The only worry was that that joint might pop out of its socket as Vaughan celebrated one landmark after another. In this sort of mood he is a right-handed David Gower, and England fans will be praying he makes it through the Test series unscathed.

After Mark Butcher had departed for 39 in the eighth over of the day (71 for 1), caught at third slip off the splice as Wade Cornelius found some alarming bounce, Vaughan moved into a class of his own. He hit three consecutive fours in Cornelius's next over - cut, hook, straight-drive - and never looked back, except to acknowledge various rounds of applause as the day progressed. He timed Chris Martin through the covers like a millionaire dipping into his pocket for small change, moved to fifty next ball with a guide to third man, then pulled Cornelius for a boundary that was as high as it was handsome. And a square-drive for four off the offspinner Paul Wiseman even brought applause from Nasser Hussain. That's right, there was another batsman at the other end, and Hussain's share of a century partnership had been an almost inconspicuous 31.

Vaughan had added 80 before lunch, by which time England, on a wicket that had flattened out in the baking sun after yesterday's mischief, had raced to 176 for 1 from just 38 overs. It would have been an ideal platform in a one-day game, and Vaughan came out after lunch as if he had just 12 overs left to set a target. He moved to his second century for England, in just 135 balls, with a squeeze past point for three off Martin, before taking 15 off Martin's next over: three fours - a tickle to fine leg, a pull, and a no-holds-barred hook - plus a three through the covers to round things off (why pinch the strike with a mere single?).

He reached 150 with a slog-sweep for four off Wiseman that also brought up the 200 stand. Hussain's share was 68, a mixture of frantic swishes and touches of class, but he had been very much Robin to Vaughan's Batman. With the heat almost unbearable and the bowlers visibly wilting, Canterbury were starting to wonder whether they'd ever take another wicket. But Vaughan did the job for them, swinging Wiseman into the leg side where the reliable Chris Harris ran back from midwicket and held on as he tumbled to the floor. Vaughan was out for 156, having put on 207 for the second wicket with Hussain and taken England to 278 for 2. There had been just one chance - Gareth Hopkins missed a stumping off Wiseman when Vaughan had 82 - but otherwise it had been sublime stuff.

But few games are complete without an England collapse, and instead of one wicket bringing two, it brought four. Hussain's vigilant innings of 69 came to an end in the next over, when Gary Stead's direct hit from square leg ruined his attempt to steal a single (279 for 3). Mark Ramprakash was caught at short leg via bat and pad off Wiseman and departed for 5 (284 for 4). And England had lost 4 for 8 when another Andy Flintoff innings ended tamely with a pat back to the bowler Harris. Flintoff out for 1, England 286 for 5.

Craig White averted total collapse as England opted for more batting practice, and there was a frisson of intrigue when Usman Afzaal walked out to play what could be his last innings for England for quite a while. He looked reasonably trim, and played sensibly until he mistimed a pull to midwicket off Warren Wisneski and trudged off for 19 (329 for 6). James Foster was beaten for pace and was bowled by Wisneski for 3 (333 for 7), and it was left to White and Ashley Giles to provide the evening's entertainment. Giles cover-spanked his way to 26 off 23 balls before cutting Wisneski to Harris at point (383 for 8), but White moved to a half-century with some lusty blows in the warm evening sun, an innings that could yet gain him a Test place at the expense of Ramprakash.

It had been a day of 372 runs and 52 boundaries. But above all it had been a day for the purists. England are warming up nicely for the first Test.

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

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