Cricket-England lose Vaughan and make slow progress

By Greg Stutchbury

HAMILTON, New Zealand, March 7 (Reuters) - England crawled to 159 for three in reply to New Zealand's 470 all out at lunch on the third day of the first test on Friday.

Andrew Strauss was on 43 and Kevin Pietersen on 10 at the interval after off-spinner Jeetan Patel had England captain Michael Vaughan well caught by wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum for 63.

England had resumed on 87 for two with Vaughan on 44 and Strauss on one.

Vaughan and Strauss were mindful of losing early wickets and treated the spin of New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and Patel circumspectly on the dry and turning pitch.

The England batsmen found runs hard to come by with 47 runs only scored in the first hour of the day's play.

There were also several nicks off the slow bowlers that just failed to carry to outstretched hands, with few forceful or attacking shots.

Vaughan brought up his 18th test half century with a guided edge down to the vacant third man boundary before McCullum snapped up a nick off Patel.

The aggressive Pietersen announced his arrival at the crease with a six over long-on off Patel but then also adopted a defensive mindset to guide England through to lunch.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)