Moores: Advantage England

The hosts were progressing nicely, with McCullum and Ross Taylor forging an 86-run sixth wicket stand, but McCullum, who had raced to 51 off 55 balls, chased a wide delivery from Ryan Sidebottom and edged behind to give England the slight advantage as New Zealand closed on 282 for six.

"We knew if we could get three in the last session and have them six down at the end of play we'd have been satisfied," explained Moores.

He added: "We were pleased that we took the chances that came along because there weren't many chances there and Alastair Cook had a very good day with three catches.

"We needed that last wicket because the way McCullum was playing, he looked like he was just going more or less into full one-day mode, which would have been very dangerous.

"It was important to get him out and to have the new ball in the morning gives us one end to bowl at and a chance to get some early wickets."

McCullum's wicket followed a determined display from England, who looked like they were facing a long day in the field when New Zealand elected to bat first, and reached lunch on 87 for one.

But Steve Harmison claimed a wicket despite a lacklustre display, while Paul Collingwood, Monty Panesar and Matthew Hoggard also took a wicket apiece to round off a successful day.

England are even remaining optimistic about the health of Ian Bell, who was forced to retire from the field after just 11 overs when he was hit on the right hand protecting himself at short leg when opener Matthew Bell pulled a short ball from Sidebottom.

"He's been for an x-ray and then he's had an MRI," confirmed Moores. "The X-ray showed no break but the MRI was a double check and that's got no break at all. He's iced it every half an hour to get it down and hopefully by Thursday morning we'll see where he's at and whether he can bat."