KEY POINTS:
England are closing in on victory in the second cricket test after New Zealand's quest for 438 faltered badly on the fourth day at the Basin Reserve here today.
New Zealand were 242 for six at stumps, 196 runs shy of completing a record runchase, and with their last specialist batsmen at the crease in Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori.
England made some ghastly fielding errors today but Kevin Pietersen, culpable for an inexcusable drop when Ross Taylor was on 26, arguably turned the game in the tourists' favour when he took a screamer at gully to remove Jacob Oram for 30.
Play was called off one ball later due to bad light, four overs short of the scheduled close.
Oram's dismissal was a massive blow for New Zealand after he and McCullum, who made 43 not out, had added 69 for the sixth wicket.
New Zealand's second innings faltered intermittently despite the construction of three partnerships worth more than 50 runs.
England were dismissed this morning after adding 16 to their overnight score of 277 for nine before New Zealand suffered an early setback when Jamie How sparred a Ryan Sidebottom delivery to Ian Bell at short leg when the score was 18.
Matthew Bell and retirement-bound former captain Stephen Fleming edged the score to 70 after lunch before Stuart Broad removed both in the space of five balls.
Broad ended Bell's 141-minute torment on 29 -- two runs after he was dropped by Paul Collingwood at second slip, the second blemish of a English fielding display that counted five dropped catches and a missed stumping my Tim Ambrose.
The wicketkeeper was the first culprit when he could not hold an edge off Fleming's bat when he was on 10 but he atoned when he held a straightforward chance offered by Bell.
Broad had further reward in his ninth over when Fleming, on 31 and in his final test appearance on his home ground, shouldered arms and had his offstump clipped.
The 34-year-left ruefully to a standing ovation as New Zealand dipped to 70 for three.
Mathew Sinclair and Ross Taylor combined for a brisk 81-run stand for the fourth wicket before Sinclair, on 39, played a limp shot to Ian Bell at short cover seven balls into the final session.
Taylor also looked assured in making 55 before he was trapped leg before wicket by Sidebottom.
While England managed to remove New Zealand's top order, their catching and ground fielding often bordered on ghastly.
Alastair Cook, who took a catalogue of stunners in the gully region in the first test in Hamilton, grassed the toughest offering when Sinclair was on 27 and the score 123.
Four runs later Pietersen inexplicably made a hash of a skier to mid off from Taylor when the batsman was on 26.
Neither miss was too costly on the scoreboard and neither were the two lives offered to the dangerous Oram.
Ambrose missed a clear stumping opportunity when Oram was on 10, and a flick off his pads was dropped by Bell at short leg when he had added four more runs.
Sidebottom, who claimed Oram's wicket in murky conditions with the second new ball, ended with three for 72 while Broad, in his second test, also impressed in taking two for 38 from 16 overs.
- NZPA
