KEY POINTS:
Those wondering if Auckland might have helped England's second-test cause got their answer yesterday when James Anderson sliced through the New Zealand batting at the Basin Reserve.
Anderson was hired by Auckland for one State Championship game last week, managing two for 95 in 38 overs. The workout
obviously did the trick.
Anderson took five for 73 yesterday as New Zealand tumbled to 198, handing England a 144-run first-innings lead, which they had pushed to 148 with all wickets in hand at stumps.
The tourists now have a solid opportunity to seize a match-winning position.
"I felt good in the spells I bowled for Auckland," Anderson said last night. "It was a flat pitch, you had to work hard and I enjoyed it. I thought of it as a chance to show how I could bowl in a game situation."
Of yesterday's effort, the man from Burnley reckoned he "found my rhythm pretty much from ball one".
His length was bang on and bowling slightly fuller than New Zealand had done, he found the edge of three New Zealand bats to get catches behind the stumps.
"Sending him to Auckland probably helped," New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum quipped, half in jest. It is uphill from here for New Zealand to retain the initiative they won so comprehensively in the first test at Hamilton.
Today and tomorrow should provide the best batting conditions, although the fast-medium men were still able to have the ball moving about late in the day yesterday, enhancing the long-held view of the Basin that quick men can prosper if they roll their sleeves up. New Zealand were unable to handle the movement fast-medium Anderson found yesterday, just as England had difficulties on the first day.
The big difference was that England were pulled out of a jam by wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose and reliable Paul Collingwood with their 164-run sixth wicket stand.
New Zealand had nothing to match that and, when the dust settles on this test, that might remain the defining stage of the match.
New Zealand's best period of the day came in the morning session when they took the last five England wickets for 51 runs in 17 overs.
Ambrose's luck ran out immediately after making his first test hundred - all credit to him, but he probably played and missed more often than he might in an entire season - and England's tail offered little.
Mark Gillespie was the chief beneficiary, finishing with four for 79, giving him nine wickets in his first two test innings.
New Zealand were in difficulties from the off. Matthew Bell, with a second consecutive duck, and Jamie How were gone inside six overs as Anderson hit the right spot.
When Mathew Sinclair feathered a catch to Ambrose, New Zealand's hole became deeper.
Stephen Fleming and Ross Taylor worked hard to restore some balance, putting on 71 before Fleming played a cramped shot to point, starting a second slide of three wickets in 35 balls.
McCullum and Daniel Vettori shared a bracing counter attack, 52 off 33 balls before the next three wickets went in 28 balls.
Vettori, in rich batting form, reached his 16th test 50, late-cutting Stuart Broad for six before the end. Since the Centurion test against South Africa in April 2006, Vettori has hit 683 runs at a remarkable 52.6.
McCullum, ever the optimist, believes New Zealand are still firmly in the contest, especially if the ball continues to move about today.
"If we bowl well, and have to chase 300-350, then we're right in the game."