New Zealand enjoyed an early breakthrough as they dismissed England debutant Emilio Gay cheaply in the 150th test at Lord's on Thursday before rain stopped play.
Gay fell for just eight after New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss in overcast conditions that promised to aid his impressive pace attack.
England were 24 for one when a heavy downpour in north London forced the players off the field 50 minutes into the first day of the three-match series.
Ben Duckett was 12 not out and Jacob Bethell was unbeaten on four.
After Matt Henry started the match with a maiden to Duckett, Gay emulated England great David Gower by hitting his first ball in test cricket for four – a square-drive off Kyle Jamieson.
Gay was playing in place of dropped opener Zak Crawley, a casualty of England's 4-1 Ashes series loss in Australia, after scoring heavily for county side Durham this season.
The 26-year-old, who has also represented Italy and once snubbed an offer to play for the West Indies, drove Jamieson down the ground for another boundary.
But those two fours were the only runs Gay scored before the left-hander fell for eight.
The towering Jamieson produced an excellent delivery from around the wicket that took Gay's outside edge, with Daryl Mitchell making no mistake in holding a low slip catch.
Jamieson had fine figures of 1-16 in five overs when play was halted.
ENGLAND: Emilio Gay, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wkt), Gus Atkinson, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
NEW ZEALAND: Tom Latham (capt), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wkt), Glenn Phillips, Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Will O'Rourke