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A late double strike from captain Daniel Vettori after a majestic unbeaten 154 by Ross Taylor seized New Zealand the upper hand over England on day two of the second cricket test here today.
Vettori removed England captain Michael Vaughan leg before wicket for 30, and nightwatchman Ryan Sidebottom caught at second slip for four as England lurched to stumps on 152 for four in reply to the tourists' first innings of 381.
On a dry, wearing pitch, left-arm spinner Vettori looms as the key figure again after his man of the match performance at Lord's, ending today with two for 40 off 19 overs.
Seamer Iain O'Brien, a late recall for his seventh test in place of Tim Southee, applied the early pressure by removing openers Alastair Cook (19) and Andrew Strauss (60) both with sharp seam movement.
New Zealand's bowlers strangled England's momentum on a sunny, breezy Saturday at Old Trafford as they scored at just 2.58 per over.
Kevin Pietersen, unbeaten on 22, and Ian Bell, on four, carry England's hopes into a pivotal third day.
A memorable day for the tourists was dominated by Taylor's highest test score.
He departed to a standing ovation after peppering the boundary with 17 fours and five sixes in his unbeaten knock which lasted 290 minutes and 176 deliveries.
The records tumbled with every swat to the boundary.
Playing just his seventh test, Taylor passed his previous highest score of 120 against England in Hamilton in March, topped Martin Crowe's Old Trafford record score by a New Zealander of 115 in 1994, and moved to fourth on the list of highest New Zealand test innings in England.
Thanks to Taylor's pyrotechnics, New Zealand added 179 runs off 36.3 overs to their overnight total.
They also had to do without rookie batsman Daniel Flynn who didn't resume his innings after being hit by a James Anderson bouncer and losing two teeth on day one.
He complained of feeling unwell and was sent to a neurosurgeon, who cleared him of any head injury and ordered him back to the team hotel to rest.
New Zealand's innings threatened to keel over in the first hour after Jacob Oram and Vettori were dismissed by crazy run-outs in the space of three balls.
Oram, on 38, and Taylor both hesitated when attempting a quick single and Alastair Cook's direct hit beat a sluggish Oram home by about 30cm.
Then a rare brain explosion from the New Zealand captain saw him trudging back for one after umpire Simon Taufel referred an appeal to third umpire Ian Gould.
He turned a ball behind square to get off the mark, returned safely for the second but didn't ground his bat, and gloveman Tim Ambrose broke the stumps from Monty Panesar's throw with Vettori's foot still marginally in the air.
Taylor restored some order, bringing up his century off 130 balls, 25 minutes before lunch, while No 9 Kyle Mills also blazed away.
Mills topped his highest test score of 31 with a 78-ball innings of 57 as he and Taylor added a valuable partnership of 89.
When Mills chopped a ball onto his stumps off Anderson, Taylor began to run out of partners and he was stranded when Chris Martin was bowled by Anderson who ended with four for 118.
- NZPA
