Why do England never hit the stumps in the field?!

New Zealand's running in this innings has been poor and that's being kind but once again England miss a chance. This time Chris Woakes at mid-wicket is the culprit. BJ Watling is on his heels at the non-strikers' end but rushes through for a single. He puts in the big dive but would have been way short if Woakes had hit.

Andrew Samson
BBC Test Match Special statistician

Henry Nicholls' half-century took 202 minutes. Not a thing of beauty but valuable to the team.

50 for Henry Nichollspublished at 94.2 overs

94.2 overs

A tad too short from Anderson and that allows Henry Nicholls to get his first first of the morning - runs which take him to his fifty. It has been scrappy but very important for the team.

Unsurprisingly, Moeen Ali is out of the bowling attack and is replaced by James Anderson. Can the king of swing find some movement?

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

New Zealand will just bat normally despite the weather. There is still enough time left in this game for them to get a result.

England have struggled to get this ball to swing so far in this match and there is no sign of hooping movement despite the conditions. It's Stuart Broad who is charging in and he bowls a maiden but isn't very threatening.

Vic Marks
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

I can already see little flickers of rain. It must be faint because the umpires don't look too bothered at the moment.

There are not many people in this vast ground today, perhaps put off by the weather forecast, but the England fans' bellows of Jerusalem echo around the stands.

It is really gloomy. The floodlights are on and despite a tidy first over from Moeen I think he'll be straight out of the attack and replaced by a seamer in a sec.

Here we go then. The players are out in the middle. This pink ball is just 12 overs old but spinner Moeen Ali has an over to finish here. He'll start us off.

Graeme Swann
Ex-England spinner on BBC Test Match Special

England have been toothless

Jimmy (Anderson) can't be the aggressor anymore.

The other guys have to be running in, growling and being aggressive. It has all been very samey and nice.

Despite the forecast it seems as though we're going to start on time here. The England players are down on the boundary and the sun is shining.

A reminder that New Zealand will resume on 229-4, 171 runs ahead of England.

England seam bowler Chris Woakes, speaking to TMS before play: "It is a little bit frustrating with the weather. You have to keep coming out to check if it's raining because of where the dressing rooms are here. You have to be ready to go out and ready to play.

"It would have been nice to get out there last night with the new ball and see if we could get it swinging. However, I suppose it is time out the game which helps us if nothing else."

Ahhh. The England football warm-up. If there weren't enough sticks to beat England with these days.

So that's where we are in the match but here's the bad news for the prospects of play today.

As you can see the forecast is pretty shoddy. But for now it's still dry in Auckland.

The rain restricted us to just 23.1 overs on day two but New Zealand are still in a mighty strong position in this Test.

England were bowled out for just 58 on day one, as I am sure you are well aware by now, and New Zealand have already batted comfortably past that total.

The hosts return today with a lead of 171 with six wickets remaining.

Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson reached his 18th century yesterday before falling to James Anderson in the only wicket on day two. Henry Nicholls and BJ Watling will resume their innings today.

Image source, AFP

Hello there!

After the near total wash out yesterday, we're back for day three of this first Test in the hope for much better weather.

The good news is it's currently dry at Eden Park but it seems we'll almost certainly have more interruptions today.

That's good for England, right? They're going to need a helping hand to get out of this one you'd imagine.

If the rain stays away the plan is to start play half-an-hour earlier today at 00:30 GMT.

Whites? Check.

Bowling boots? Check.

Blue England caps. Check.

England are preparing for another day in the field.

I think we might just have been here before this winter...

Image source, Getty Images