England face uphill battle

Resuming 87 for two trailing by 383 runs, England knew they needed a solid start to prevent New Zealand taking control of the match.

But they struggled to break out of their defensive mode all day and with no batsman able to play a major innings, the tourists slipped to a worrying 254 for six, still trailing by 216 runs with an hour's play remaining.

Having failed to make much of an impact, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori replaced himself with off-spinner Jeetan Patel who made an immediate impact and almost dismissed Andrew Strauss in his second over. Strauss, then on 23, mis-timed his sweep shot and the ball glanced the glove on its way behind but Brendon McCullum was unable to take the sharp chance.

Patel gained his revenge in his next over by claiming New Zealand's only wicket of the session with Michael Vaughan pushing forward on 63 and edging behind to McCullum.

Three balls after the interval, Strauss attempted to drive Vettori and was bowled through the gate for 43 after the full-length delivery turned sharply into his stumps to bring Ian Bell together with Pietersen.

After that aggressive start, Pietersen withdrew into a defensive mode never seen before in his England career and allowed Bell to overtake him during their 44-run stand spanning 23 overs.

Bell perished attempting to drive Kyle Mills, who seamed the ball back into the Warwickshire batsman and through the gate to hit his off-stump.

While wickets were falling at the other end, Pietersen withdrew further into his shell and it was not until the 94th ball of his innings - 91 after his previous boundary - before he claimed the first four of his innings when he drove Martin through mid-wicket.

Just 12 overs after the interval, however, Pietersen's withdrawn innings came to a halt when he gave a leading edge back to Vettori attempting a defensive push having hit only three boundaries in his 205 minute stay at the crease.