New Zealand's chances of squaring the Test series with England may have disappeared amid the continuing problems of protecting Wellington's slow-drying Basin Reserve wicket. The weather-tormented second Test finally got under way today, but five sessions of play have been lost to the elements and the inability of the groundstaff to protect the pitch-surrounds from overnight rain and gale-force winds.

There was no play yesterday, and only 30 overs today, once play eventually started after tea – ironically under clear skies. When fading light ended play at 5.47pm, England were 92 for 2 with Mark Butcher not out with 24 and Nasser Hussain on 16.

New Zealand trail in the series after losing the opening Test at Christchurch by 98 runs last weekend, and the last thing they needed was lost playing time as they search to bowl the tourists out twice to take the series to a decider at Auckland next week.

"It's disappointing," said Denis Aberhart, the New Zealand coach. "It's not the first time that's happened here, but I understand the groundsman is doing all he can possibly do. But it obviously needs to be looked at to allow us to get started when the overhead conditions are good enough to start, but the surrounding conditions are not good enough - something has to be done about improving it."

But Aberhart added: "The wicket didn't as much as we thought it was going to do. We went into this Test with shortened time needing to take 20 wickets, and we thought our best opportunity was to bowl first and bat just once."

Marcus Trescothick, who was one of the two England wickets to fall in the short session, was more philosophical about the condition of the ground. "We have to keep it in perspective," he said. "The square and surrounding the wicket was very damp all day, and we had to come to the conclusion that it wasn't going to get too much better the longer we left it, and we had to make the most of the opportunity.

"The wicket was fine, it had been covered well, but the surrounding areas are very muddy and pretty dangerous for people fielding, and the bowler's run-ups at one end were pretty wet."

After slogging Vettori over midwicket for four, Trescothick was deceived by a slower delivery next ball and played a false shot. "It didn't bother me too much," said Trescothick. "I played the shot the ball before and hit it well, but the ball I got out to I thought it was in the same area, and I'm not dwelling on it because mentally I was quite happy with what I was doing. It's happened all my career, I occasionally play a big shot and get myself caught at deep point or deep square leg, but that's the way I tend to play the game and nine times out of ten it works well."

Overall it was a belittling day for New Zealand cricket. Apart from the covers proving inadequate, the old scoreboard was festooned with a jumble of odd-shaped lettering that would have looked more suitable for a rural setting than for the venue of an international cricket match.

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