Former England captain Nasser Hussain stroked his 14th Test century to guide the hosts to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over New Zealand in the first Test at Lord's on Monday.
Hussain scored an unbeaten 103 and Graham Thorpe was not out 51 in England's 282 for three after opener Andrew Strauss, a late replacement for injured captain Michael Vaughan, was unluckily run out for 83 when Hussain called for an impossible run.
Strauss, who scored 112 in the first innings, was on course to become the first England player to score a century in each innings in his debut Test.
England were only the third side to reach a victory target in excess of 200 at Lord's and the win was their fourth in five Tests this year after beating West Indies 3-0 in the Caribbean.
Scoreboard:
New Zealand first innings: 386 (M.Richardson 93, C.Cairns 82, J.Oram 67, N.Astle 64; S.Harmison 4-126)
England first innings: 441 (A.Strauss 112, M.Trescothick 86, A.Flintoff 63)
New Zealand second innings: 336 (M.Richardson 101, B.McCullum 96; S.Harmison 4-76)
England second innings: (overnight 8-0)
M.Trescothick c and b Tuffey 2
A.Strauss run out 83
M.Butcher c Fleming b Martin 6
N.Hussain not out 103
G.Thorpe not out 51
Extras (b-7 lb-12 w-5 nb-13) 37
Total (for three wickets, 87 overs) 282
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-35, 3-143.
Did not bat: A.Flintoff, G.Jones, A.Giles, S.Harmison, M.Hoggard, S.Jones
Bowling: Oram 15-4-39-0 (nb-5), Tuffey 10-3-32-1, Vettori 25-5-53-0, Martin 18-2-75-1 (nb-5 w-5), Styris 13-5-37-0 (nb-1), Cairns 6-0-27-0 (nb-2)
Result: England won by seven wickets
Second match: June 3-7, Headingley, Leeds
Third match: June 10-14, Trent Bridge, Nottingham
More from rediff