New Zealand slumped from 66 for three at lunch to 147 all out with Hoggard and Andy Caddick, who dismissed three batsman in a single over, sharing the wickets.

England, who took a welcome 81-run lead after they were bowled out for 228 on the first day, were 63 for two in their second innings when bad light stopped play, losing Michael Vaughan (0) and Marcus Trescothick (33) to debutant paceman Ian Butler.

Hoggard picked up both wickets to fall in the morning session with Matthew Horne falling to a brilliant diving catch by Graham Thorpe at third slip for 14 and nightwatchman Daniel Vettori (42) edging a catch behind after some bold shots.

The burly Yorkshireman then bowled Lou Vincent for 12 before trapping Nathan Astle in front for 10 to collect his first five-wicket bag in his sixth test.

He came back after a four-over stint from Caddick, the second of which collected three wickets, and polished off the New Zealand innings, by dismissing the hard-hitting Craig McMillan for 40 and last man Ian Butler for a duck.

Scoreboard

England (1st innings): 228

New Zealand (1st innings):

(9 for 1 overnight)

Richardson lbw b Hoggard 2

Horne c Thorpe b Hoggard 14

Vettori c Foster b Hoggard 42

Vincent b Hoggard 12

Fleming c Giles b Caddick 12

Astle lbw b Hoggard 10

McMillan c Vaughan b Hoggard 40

Cairns c Flintoff b Caddick 0

Parore lbw b Caddick 0

Drum not out 2

Butler c Hussain b Hoggard 0

Extras: (lb-5, nb-8) 13

Total: (All out in 51.2 ovrs) 147

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-50, 3-65, 4-79, 5-93, 6-117, 7-117, 8-117, 9-146.

Bowling: Caddick 18-8-50-3, Hoggard 21.2-7-63-7, Flintoff 12-2-29-0.

England (2nd innings):

Trescothick c Vettori b Butler 33

Vaughan b Butler 0

Butcher batting 22

Hussain batting 6

Extras: (lb-1, nb-1) 2

Total: (2 wkts, overs 15.3) 63

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-50.

Opening batsman Devon Smith, off-spin allrounder Gareth Breese, along with fast bowlers Adam Sanford and Darrell Powell are the four newcomers picked for the five Tests and five limited-overs internationals against the Indians.

Opening batsman Stuart Williams and wicketkeeper-batsman Junior Murray, two players who have not featured in recent selections, have also been included in the squad that will be encamped in Trinidad between March 21 and 28.

Former West Indies captain Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan, two players who are fit again after recovering from injury, have been picked in the squad which was named yesterday.

Lara has only started net practice following a near three-month break from the game. The world record-breaking batsman had his right elbow dislocated during a limited-overs international against Sri Lanka last December.

Sarwan returned to cricket during Guyana’s final preliminary match against Leeward Islands after a two-month break. The diminutive right-hander pulled out of the team’s training camp just prior to the series against Pakistan with a back injury. Williams, who was a member of the 1999 World Cup team, played the last of his 28 Tests against South Africa at Port Elizabeth four years ago.

Murray, who has played 31 Tests and 55 limited-overs internationals, but has not featured for West Indies since the 1998-99 tour of South Africa, has also earned a recall after scoring heavily in the domestic championship.

The 36-year-old Waugh has been a conspicuously successful leader of what is regarded as one of the best Australian teams of all time.

They have won all five matches they have played against South Africa this season and will be seeking to complete a clean sweep, at home and away, against the side that is ranked second on the world Test championship ladder.

But Waugh’s own poor form with the bat makes him vulnerable.

He was subjected to several questions about the batting of himself and twin brother Mark after Australia’s four-wicket win in the second Test in Cape Town on Tuesday.

Both Waughs have already been dropped from the Australian one-day team and will be returning home next week, while most of their team-mates stay to prepare for a seven-match one-day series in South Africa.

The Australian captain acknowledged he had to perform to keep his Test place.

Unfortunately when you’re over 35 and have a bad run it tends to get written up a bit differently — as soon as you’re a certain age, you’re gone. But it’s up to Mark and myself to prove that wrong and come back in Durban and score runs”, he said.

Waugh said his sequence of low scores had been unexpected because he felt in good form. He said there was no magic formula to turn it around.

Whether or not he performs well, Waugh is confident Australia will be focused on winning again, even though the series and the World Championship have already been decided. as we should have. Our goal is to win the Test match and complete a clean sweep.”

He gave credit, though, to South Africa on the way they had come back from an innings and 360 runs defeat in the first Test to give Australia a close fight at Newlands.

South African Mark Boucher said his team, missing several regular players because of injury and the controversial withdrawal of Daryll Cullinan, had fought well.

South Africa recalled all-rounder Lance Klusener and seamer David Terbrugge in a 12-man squad for Kingsmead, which usually helps the seam bowlers. Opening bowler Dewald Pretorius was dropped.

Boucher said the left-handed opening partnership of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer had given the South Africans a problem all summer.

He said the South Africans had tried hard all summer but the addition of several youngsters to the side had brought some much-needed enthusiasm and confidence into the camp.

South Africa (from): Mark Boucher (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Ashwell Prince, Andrew Hall, Lance Klusener, Paul Adams, Makhaya Ntini, David Terbrugge.

Australia (likely): Steve Waugh (captain), Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath.

In an e-mail message to the media from Indian Wells in the USA, Bhupathi said the split was aimed at “re-igniting” their respective careers. However, he could not say whether the parting of ways is temporary and that India’s finest doubles pair would join hands again in future.

“Whether this (split) is permanent, I don’t know. You never know with life”, he said.

Over the past few months, Bhupathi said, their performances had been very inconsistent and, for a variety of reasons, they had not been able to play up to the high standards that they set for themselves.

“While we have constantly worked to resolve our differences and maintain our status as other premier teams in our sport, there are certain things that we have not been able to work through”, he admitted.

“As a result, by mutual consent, we have amicably decided to part ways and re-ignite our respective careers on Tour”, Bhupathi added. “We both felt that perhaps a change would reinvigorate us and rejuvenate our playing careers”.

But he added that given the immense pride that both Paes and he took in representing the country, he hoped they would have continued success as a pair in team competitions like the Olympics, Davis Cup and Asian Games.

Bhupathi said their performance had dipped significantly, and they had lost in the first round of five of the last six Grand Slams, always to unseeded teams ranked well below them — teams they were regularly beating a while ago.

In other events, they have also recently fared poorly, losing in the first or second rounds in three of the last four events.

“This is no one person’s fault - such regular early exists indicate some deeper performance related problems. Perhaps we are not motivating each other as we once were able to do”, he said.

“Such mutual motivation is especially important in the early rounds of tournaments, and when we lost so often, as early as we did, I think we may both have felt a lack of motivation”, Bhupathi added.

Stating that both have limited time left on the tennis courts and have given this partnership a great shot and have done well with it, he said, “We both felt that perhaps a change would reinvigorate us and rejuvenate our playing careers”.

Bhupathi also said the decision to split was not based entirely on performance related issues.

“In fact, there were significant non-performance related issues that we were unable to bridge, despite our best efforts”, he said without elaborating.

“It’s way too much,” said seventh seed Marat Safin of Russia. “I think they have to make a rule that when it’s too much wind you cannot play.”

At least Safin won his match. For Switzerland’s Michel Kratochvil, who ousted Andre Agassi in the first round, a wind-whipped loss to Marcelo Rios marked a plunge from “maybe the best match of my life to the worst experience.”

“It was dangerous to play,” Kratochvil said of the sandy court. “Tonight it wasn’t a tennis match. It was something else.”

Number one seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia played in haze of sand on stadium court and defeated unseeded Romanian Andrei Pavel 4-6 6-3 6-0.

Second seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia downed Spain’s Fernando Vicente 6-3 7-6 (7/4) on a morning when the mountains that usually provide a picturesque backdrop to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden were obscured from view by the swirling sand.

Shortly after Hewitt and Kafelnikov had completed their matches, play was halted on the outside courts.

On court two, ninth-seeded Briton Tim Henman raced to a 4-0 lead over France’s Nicolas Escude before play was halted for about an hour.

“I seem to get caught up in my fair share of delays,” said Henman, whose rain-disrupted semi-final against eventual champion Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon last year took three days to complete. “I think it’s the first sand delay that I’ve had.”

Play continued on the more protected stadium, but fourth seed Monica Seles said her 6-3 3-6 6-3 quarter-final victory over Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the WTA’s 2.1 million-dollar tier one event was still no picnic.

“It was really bad. On every other changeover I had to take a wet towel and take the sand out of my eyes,” said Seles, who advanced to a semi-final against second seed Martina Hingis, a 6-1 6-2 winner over South African Amanda Coetzer. Seles said she thought Sanchez adjusted better.

Britain’s Greg Rusedski coped less well, and wound up a three-set loser to France’s Julien Boutter.

Rusedski was clearly frustrated by the conditions in the second set, and when he dropped his serve in the seventh game of the third he couldn’t regroup, Boutter posting a 6-7 (4/7) 6-3 6-4 victory.

Theirs was the last singles match to finish, although it was ostensibly part of the day session.

Safin playing the feature night match on stadium court downed Thai qualifier Paradorn Srichaphan 7-5 6-1.

Fifth seed Tommy Haas of Germany fell 6-4 6-2 to US veteran Todd Martin.

The North Zone, in the process, gained a handsome 390-run lead over South Zone, who were earlier bundled out for a paltry 168 in their first innings. At close on the penultimate day of the four-day encounter, South Zone had made 126 for the loss of S. Ramesh’s wicket.

The morning session belonged to Yuvraj Singh, who carried from his overnight score of 163 and completed his double century with the help of 23 boundaries and three sixes while staying in the middle for a marathon 542-minute knock. He was finally out playing a tired-looking shot off Hemang Badani, giving a catch to stumper M.S.K. Prasad.

Yuvraj today shared another fruitful stand with local boy Shafiq Khan (60) by putting on 90 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter was leg before wicket to Venkatesh Prasad, who went on to claim three wickets for his untiring efforts. Vijay Dahiya remained unbeaten on 53 which was studded with five fours and a six and came in 120 minutes.

Facing a mammoth first innings deficit, South Zone openers S. Sriram and S. Ramesh played cautiously before going for their shots. Ramesh struck seven fours in his 79-minute stay before being scalped by Nehra, edging the fast bowler to the keeper. At stumps, Sriram was batting confidently for 64 that packed 11 boundaries and came off 127 balls. Giving him company was Vinay Kumar on 23 that had three fours.

Scoreboard:

South Zone (1st innings): 168

North Zone (1st innings): A Chopra b Suresh Kumar 37, V Rathore c Bharadwaj b Sriram 104, Yuvraj Singh c MSK Prasad b S Ramesh 209, M Manhas c Sriram b R V Ch Prasad 44, Shafiq Khan lbw V Prasad 60, Sangram Singh c RV Ch Prasad b Badani 12, V Dahiya not out 53, R Sanghvi b V Prasad 06, A Nehera lbw V Prasad 00, Vineet Sharma b R V Ch Prasad 11. Extras: (b5, lb4, nb10, w3) 22. Total: 558 for 9 decl. Fall of wickets: 1/68, 2/231, 3/341, 4/431, 5/463, 6/514, 7/533, 8/533, 9/558. Bowling: Venkatesh Prasad 45-13-107-3; Shahbuddin 33-5-108-0; R V Ch Prasad 11.5-2-42-2; Suresh Kumar 24-9-89-1; V Bharadwaj 11-3-35-0; S Sriram 26-3-90-1; H Badani 11-0-56-1; S Ramesh 03-0-22-1.

Powered by an unbeaten 103 (10x4, 1x6, 165 b) by opener Wasim Jaffer, his second century of the match, West Zone had reached 213 for three in their second innings.

Altaf Merchant was the other not out batsman on 15 at stumps on the third day.

Central Zone, resuming at their overnight score of 154 for four, lost wickets at regular intervals. First to go was Railway’s Kulmani Parida, who was batting on eight last evening, caught by Merchant off Powar for 11.

Skipper Gagan Khoda, who had batted beautifully for his unbeaten 76, could add just seven more runs today when he was adjudged leg before wicket to Pathan for 83. Khoda hit 13 fours in his 146-ball knock.

Though J P Yadav made a fighting 61 not out off 72 balls with 10 fours, there was no support from the other end with R Jalani (5), Harvinder Singh (1), S Srivastav (1) and Narendra Hirwani (0) getting out cheaply.

West’s second innings started on a bright note when Jaffer and Connor Williams (39, 5x4) added 72 runs. Jaffer and skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar (40) then added 111 for the second wicket to pile up the agony of Central Zone.

Scoreboard

West Zone: (Ist innings): 416

Central Zone: (Ist innings): (Overnight 154 for four wickets): Jyoti Yadav c Kambli b Pathan 42, Gagan Khoda lbw b Pathan 83, T.P. Singh c Kanitkar b Powar 1, Yere Gaud c Mongia b Bahutule 1, Raja Ali b Pathan 14, K. Parida c Altaf b Powar 11, J.P. Yadav not out 61, Rohit Jhalani c Mongia b Pathan 3, Kharvinder Singh c Merchant b Powar 5, Narendra Hirwani b Bahutule 0. Extras: (5b, 6lb, 3nb, 6w) 20. Total: 241 in 72.2. Fall of wickets: 1-75, 2-84, 3-115, 4-141, 5-161, 6-173, 7-190, 8-226, 9-227, 10-241. Bowling: Lalit Patel 8-2-46-0, Irfan Pathan 25-7-74-4, Ramesh Powar 29-8-92-3, Sairaj Bahutule 10.2-3-18-3.

India dominated against the inexperienced UAE side to score a facile 25-16, 25-15, 25-12 victory to maintain their clean slate so far winning both their outings.

The Indians who have thus four points would now play with Iran to decide the topper in their group. Iran also have four points from two matches.

“Today’s clash with Iran will be a tough one and we will play to our potential”, coach Chander Singh told PTI. Keeping in view today’s encounter, the reserved players were fielded against UAE (Junior) resting the key spikers in the second and third sets.

Group A includes Iran, Austria, India and UAE Youth team while group B has Tunisia, Pakistan, Ukraine, and the UAE senior team.

Vasco, who were in the second position after Mohun Bagan prior to the day’s match, have now gleaned 31 points from 16 matches, to move three points clear of the Kolkata side and Salgaocar. Bagan, who have played one match less, are placed second and would take on ITI, Bangalore, here tomorrow.

Vasco were well served by their recruits from the land of Samba, with Rui Wanderley Weis putting them in the lead in the closing stages of the opening half.

Wanderley’s compatriot Marcos Pereira struck soon after the breather to make the scoreline 2-0 before Asim Biswas reduced the margin for Tollygunge, who continued in the ninth position with 18 points from 16 outings.

There will be no holds barred when Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan take on ITI, Bangalore, in the crucial match here tomorrow.

Both the clubs, depending much on their foreign recruits, are desperate to win the match at Salt Lake Stadium because a win or a loss might make or break the chances for the club particularly when the 12-team championship is descending fast.

Bagan have in form Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto and Nigerian Seriki who have been the main match winners for the city giants in the NFL for the past two years. ITI also have four foreigners including Mike Okoro and Mike John who have the ability to turn the tables on the Kolkata outfit.

ITI, in the last 16 matches collected 25 points with seven wins, four draws, four losses, scored 19 goals and conceded 14 and are placed fifth at the table.

The team, scheduled to leave for England on June 18, will play three one-day practice matches against Sussex (June 22), Kent (June 24) and Leicestershire (June 26) before the triangular series with Sri Lanka being the third team, according to information received here today.

The triangular series will start on June 27 with the final slated at the Lord’s on July 13 before the four-Test series starts at the same venue.

The second Test will be at Trentbridge from August 8 to 12 while Headingly will host the third from August 22 to 26. The fourth and final Test will at the Oval from September 5 to 9.

Before the England tour the Indians will play five one-dayers and an equal number of Test matches in the West Indies from April 2 to June 3.