Manchester, May 26:

Andrew Strauss scored his 12th Test century today to guide England to a six-wicket win in the second Test over New Zealand and a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Strauss shared a 90-run stand with captain Michael Vaughan (48) and hit 12 fours to score 106 in 186 balls at Old Trafford. Resuming on the fourth day on 76-1 in pursuit of 294, England lost three wickets before Paul Collingwood hitting the winning runs on the last ball before tea.

England lost their first wicket today when Vaughan edged a legcutter from Chris Martin and was caught by wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum with the score on 150. Strauss and Kevin Pietersen put on 85 before Strauss was caught at slip by Ross Taylor off Ian O’Brien and England were 235-3. Thirteen runs later, Pietersen (42) was run out and England’s middle order was exposed.

But Ian Bell (21 not out) and Collingwood (24 not out) guided the team its highest ever victory target at Old Trafford, surpassing the 231 set against West Indies in 2004. The first Test

was drawn last week at Lord’s.

Kingston Test

KINGSTON: Australia, thanks largely to Andrew Symonds, remained in the hunt for victory before bad light on Sunday put the brakes on them as West Indies chased 287 runs to win the opening Test.

Symonds waged an almost single-handed battle to hit the top score of 79, as Australia were dismissed for 167 in their second innings about five minutes before the tea break on the fourth day at Sabina Park.

West Indies were 46-1 in their second innings when bad light stopped play 25 overs early about 40 minutes before the scheduled close. West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan (8) and left-handed opener Devon Smith (19) were unbeaten at stumps. Australia claimed the scalp of opener Brenton Parchment (15), when he edged a delivery from Stuart Clark.

Australia continued from their overnight total of 17-4, and the early wicket would have been the right tonic for West Indies. But Symonds joined Hodge and they steadied the ship with circumspect batting punctuated with the odd boundary. — AFP