KEY POINTS:
It has taken three days for one of the protagonists to show the true nature of the McLean Park pitch for the third test.
England fumbled along in their first innings on Saturday; New Zealand made a complete hash of it the next day.
At stumps last night, England were 416-5, having made 325-3 yesterday and are perfectly placed to wrap up the series over the next two days.
They lead by 501. The pitch is a ripper for the batsmen, but even so this is contemplating a skyscraper challenge - especially remembering New Zealand's first innings tail begins at No 4.
If England win, it will be only the third time New Zealand have lost a three-test series after winning the first - and a first on home turf. The other two occasions were in South Africa in 1994-95 and in Sri Lanka in 1998.
The highest winning fourth innings total is the West Indies 418-7 against Australia in Antigua five years ago. New Zealand's best is 324-5 against Pakistan in Christchurch in 1994. Enough said. Some day a team will get 500 to win a test. It won't be this week.
New Zealand have gone beyond 400 in the fourth innings but as good as the pitch is, New Zealand's batting is full of leaks at the moment. Bat two days to save a test? Mmm.
It will be Stephen Fleming's finale, and the romantics will fancy a final flourish. However romance belongs with Mills and Boon, not a bunch of Englishmen who can sense victory.
In its own way yesterday was almost as dispiriting as Sunday had been for New Zealand. Losing nine for 65 in a session was bad enough; watching England show what should have been done simply twisted the knife.
But where there's hope there's Jeetan Patel, an amiable bloke but an odd choice as New Zealand's spokesman on the day's activities when a more senior voice would have seemed appropriate.
England's batsmen had demonstrated what is possible, he said. Batting two days to save the test is not beyond reach.
"The mood is still pretty good," he said. "It was a hard grind but we are confident in what we have to do."
England's day was based around contrasting centuries from Andrew Strauss, who hit the highest individual score in a Napier test, 173 not out, and Ian Bell, with 110.
They put on 187 for the fourth wicket and were rarely troubled. But while Strauss, with his first hundred in 31 test innings and the highest of his 11 tons, gave a working man's performance, Bell oozed class.
He drove superbly, twice lifted the spinners for six and during the middle session got 88 runs on his own, as the pair rattled up 135. Timing was the key to his innings. Strauss, who spent part of this season working on his game at Northern Districts, was a good foil. He cut crisply, drove tidily and worked the ball about without any frilly touches.
By stumps he had batted eight hours, faced 337 balls, hitting 25 fours.
His 55-run stand with Tim Ambrose in the final hour merely rounded off an immensely satisfying day's work for England.
"Both sides have been guilty of giving the opposition a chance. We didn't want to do that today," Strauss said.
New Zealand toiled hard but without much inspiration, save Chris Martin with the second new ball.
One catch was dropped - Ross Taylor put down Ambrose on nine off Patel.
It's all uphill for New Zealand from here - and all up to the batsmen.
