Close Canterbury 218 for 8 dec (Harris 82, Caddick 5-69) and 175 for 2 (Frew 73, Shannan 58) drew with England 432 for 9 dec (Vaughan 156, White 73, Hussain 69)
scorecard

England's preparations for the first Test took a step backwards today when their first-choice attack managed just two wickets in 73 overs as Canterbury batted out for the draw with single-minded stubbornness and complete ease. The pitch was as flat as the local plains and the umpires seemed to have agreed in advance that lbws would not be given, but if England can't do better than this against a middling domestic side, they will struggle to bowl out New Zealand twice when the series starts on Wednesday.

Left with most of the day to survive, Canterbury set out to do just that, which was a shame for a decent-sized crowd on another balmy Christchurch afternoon. Robbie Frew, who had already bored everyone senseless by making 44 off 179 balls in the first innings, and Shannan Stewart batted with such caution that by the time their partnership of 112 was brought to a merciful conclusion shortly before tea, the innings was into its 50th over.

After the fourth one-dayer in Auckland, Stephen Fleming had spoken about how cricketers should never forget their duty to entertain, but presumably Frew and Shannan don't read the papers. Shannan took 33 balls to get off the mark, while Frew managed just three runs in an 18-over spell either side of lunch. The 50 came up in the 29th over, and the 100 took nearly three hours. It was the sort of day that can put a newcomer to cricket off it for life.

England's bowlers weren't awful, just awfully uninspired. Andy Caddick was again the pick, starting with six lively maidens and finally conceding a run when Frew squeezed his 37th delivery through the slips for a single. Ashley Giles got the occasional ball to grip, and at least settled into a loping, looping rhythm. But Hoggard was innocuous – as he can be when the ball doesn't swing – and Craig White was more harmless than a Test-match second-change bowler can afford to be. Andy Flintoff was given just six overs, which was a deliberate policy to give him a break before Wednesday.

The two wickets to fall came too late to breathe life into the game. Shannan hooked White to Giles at long leg and departed for a 155-ball 58 (112 for 1). And Frew was bowled behind his legs by Giles for 72 in 205 balls (172 for 2), to take his match tally to a zombie-like 116 from 384. The players shook hands moments later, at 6.20pm, which gave them enough time to zip across the city to Lancaster Park, where the Christchurch Crusaders would kick off at 7.35pm against the Auckland Blues in the rugby union Super 12s.

It was an anticlimactic end to a day that had started breezily when White, who hooked Chris Martin for six, and Caddick added 32 quick runs to England's overnight total of 400 for 8 before White swung Paul Wiseman into the leg side and picked out Chris Harris. It was Harris's fifth catch of the innings, and White had made 73, which could be enough to win him a Test spot ahead of Mark Ramprakash. England declared immediately on 432 for 9 to give themselves 80 overs to bowl out Canterbury.

But that was exciting as it got. Of the 73 overs that followed, 27 – almost an entire session's worth – were maidens. England are unlikely to be treated with as much respect when the proper stuff finally gets under way next week.

Teams
Canterbury 1 Robbie Frew, 2 Shannan Stewart, 3 Michael Papps, 4 Gary Stead (capt), 5 Nathan Astle, 6 Chris Harris, 7 Gareth Hopkins (wk), 8 Paul Wiseman, 9 Warren Wisneski, 10 Chris Martin, 11 Wade Cornelius.

England 1 Mark Butcher, 2 Michael Vaughan, 3 Nasser Hussain (capt), 4 Mark Ramprakash, 5 Usman Afzaal, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Craig White, 8 James Foster (wk), 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Andy Caddick, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

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

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