England on top

Beginning the third day in Wellington in a powerful position 148 runs ahead on four without loss, England were determined to bat the Kiwis out of the game.

The tourists closed on 277 for nine to extend their lead to 421 - but once again none of the top six was able to reach three figures. England have recorded only one century in this series and only four in their previous two against Sri Lanka and India, a total of eight Tests.

But despite batting with the comfort of a commanding lead, only Paul Collingwood and Alastair Cook even passed 50 as once again batsmen got in but were unable to build major innings.

England's innings suffered an early setback with captain Michael Vaughan falling in the sixth over of the day when he edged seamer Kyle Mills behind to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum. But after that early loss, the tourists seemed assured at the crease throughout a 106-run stand between Essex opener Cook and fellow left-hander Andrew Strauss.

Cook, dropped on five by McCullum five balls prior to Vaughan's dismissal, reached his first half-century of the series shortly before lunch.He dominated the partnership with St rauss and looked well set until edging behind for a determined 60. Strauss followed in the next over when he was given lbw to all-rounder Jacob Oram playing around his pads for 44.

Kevin Pietersen, without a half-century in nine Test innings, was fortunate not to follow leg before after pushing forward tentatively to left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori on 10. But his luck ran out seven overs later when, as the non-striker, he was run out by seamer Chris Martin attempting to stop a fierce drive off Ian Bell in his delivery stride. Martin stooped to try to stop the ball as Bell drove down the ground, but instead of collecting it the ball deflected on to the stumps with Pietersen out of his ground.

New batsman Collingwood could have fallen in the next over before he had scored when he came down the wicket trying to hit Vettori over the top. He hit the ball high in the air but Mark Gillespie, running back from mid-off, made a hash of the catch and pushed it over the boundary.

Bell also had his fair share of good fortune when he drove Martin towards backward point in the next over but Mathew Sinclair was only able to get one hand on it. Bell battled for over two hours for his 41, but became the next batsman to miss out on a potentially big score when he drove Oram to point and this time Sinclair held on.

His demise prompted a late collapse with Tim Ambrose, Stuart Broad and Ryan Sidebottom all falling to the new ball and, although Collingwood battled to reach his half-century, he fell in the final over to Mark Gillespie.