Heading into the second Test, England and New Zealand were level-pegging. New Zealand, perhaps, had their noses in front - but only slightly. Either team had the opportunity to do apply pressure on day one at Old Trafford, and New Zealand was the team to do it.

At the end of the first day, shortened because of bad light, New Zealanded walked off looking comfortable on 202/4, with Ross Taylor sitting pretty on 67. And there was more to come. He pushed on in day two, and brought his second international hundred up off 130 deliveries.

He and Mills, batting at 9, combined for a demoralising 7th wicket partnership, with Mills scoring his maiden Test 50. Mills was dismissed for 57, off just 85 deliveries, and Taylor ended the innings unbeaten on 154 from 176 deliveries - a strike rate of 87.50, and an excellent innings.

New Zealand finished on 381, and then made serious inroads into the English top order. O'Brien removed both the openers, and Vettori served up 19 overs of pure pressure - and was rewarded with two wickets. Given what we saw from Vettori on a less-than-two-day-old pitch, how much of a handful will he be if this game goes the full length?

Day two ended with England on 152/4 - although one of those wickets was the night watchman, Sidebottom.

It's precarious for England. They've got a fair amount of work to do to score another 229 runs, and the momentum is definitely with New Zealand. Vettori is on top of the game, from both the perspective of the captaincy and as a bowler.

Before this series started, there was a lot of talk about playing 'exciting' and 'positive' cricket from the English camp. Funny, really - England's 152 runs so far in this match have come at a rate of 2.57 runs per over. Sure, there's been some tight bowling from New Zealand - but can we pick it up just a bit, please?

In the first match, too, England's run-rate was poor. 319 runs, at 2.86 runs an over, is hardly 'exciting'.

Compare that run-rate to the one New Zealand achieved during their 381 in the first innings - 4.2 runs per over. Compare, too, the top score (so far) from each team. With so much of the game to go, the totals (Taylor - 154, and Strauss - 60) are not entirely relevant. But the strike rates - oh boy...

Taylor scored his 154 off 176 balls, a strike rate of 87.5. Strauss's 60 came off 140 balls, at a rate of 42.85. Not exactly blistering.

Taylor faced only 36 extra deliveries in his innings than Strauss - and scored 94 more runs.

And should we even bother to look at Vaughan's strike rate of 22.55 over a period of 172 minutes? Best not to, we think.

These statistic's are astonishing. For a team to tout themselves as 'positive', and then come out and be this sluggish with their batting...

It would be understandable (almost...) against a rampant Australian attack. But England are facing, essentially, a re-built, second-string bowling attack from New Zealand. O'Brien is only in the side because Southee isn't playing - and even he is a rookie. Mills is solid, and Oram is generally reliable, but there's no real superstar amongst the seamers. Shane Bond has been lost to the cash-cow of Indian cricket, and New Zealand are yet to find a replacement that is up to his class - and will probably struggle to do so for some time.

Vettori, admittedly, is world-class, but he doesn't open the bowling. If there's ever a time to take the attack to New Zealand, it's before the slower bowlers come on. Yet, at the 31 over mark, England were 76/1, and crawling along at 2.5 runs an over. No top order collapse is needed to slow England down - they seem happy to dig in and do it themselves.

Cricket fans are used to this from England - they've never really had a flamboyant batting line-up, and slow-and-steady has generally been how they've played the game. And that would be fine...

But the fact that England started their summer with promises of positive intent - well, it's left us (and many, many English fans, we're sure) scratching our heads, and wondering -

When will the foot go down, England?