England make progress

The England captain resumed on 44 with the tourists in a precarious position on 87 for two in reply to New Zealand's 470 having lost two wickets in the final five overs of the previous evening. He quickly recorded England's first half-century of the series and with the pitch remaining good for batting Vaughan would have had his sights set on a major innings to help England achieve parity.

But after batting for over four hours for his 63, which included eight boundaries, Vaughan pushed forward defensively to off-spinner Jeetan Patel playing for turn and edged behind to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum as England reached 159 for three at lunch, still trailing by 311 runs.

England resumed the third day batting far more cautiously than New Zealand the previous day, who added 66 in the opening hour, with Vaughan and Strauss happy to accumulate runs slowly and surely.

In contrast England added only 42 in the same time period with seamer Chris Martin putting down an early marker with a short-pitched delivery which hit Strauss on the chest. That was a rare delivery that beat the batsmen, though, as England's third wicket pair comfortably survived the first 21 overs of the day before New Zealand claimed their breakthrough.

Vaughan took only four overs to bring up his half-century by deliberately steering Martin down to third man for his sixth boundary.

Having failed to make much of an impact, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori replaced himself with off-spinner Patel who made an immediate impact and almost dismissed 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 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, but new batsman Kevin Pietersen attempted to establish his authority by striding down the wicket and launching the third ball of his innings down the ground for six.

Pietersen survived an appeal for a catch behind off seamer Kyle Mills down the leg-side just eight overs before lunch and reached 10 at the interval while Strauss had progressed to an unbeaten 43 after over two hours at the crease.