Rachin Ravindra’s unbeaten half-century kept England at bay after Jofra Archer’s double-hitting double that rocked New Zealand in the third and deciding Test at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
New Zealand, who leveled the three-match series 1-1, trailed 12/2 in their second innings following two wickets from paceman Archer after tea on the third day.
But at stumps they recovered to 120/3 and took an overall lead of 204 runs to set up an impressive result with two full days remaining.
Ravindran was unbeaten on 60, his 12th time in 24 Tests with 50 or more — including five centuries.
The 26-year-old left-hander Daryl Mitchell (26 not out) was well supported with an unbroken 69.
Fast bowler Archer turned up the heat in Nottingham the other day with impressive figures of 2-14 from seven overs to make it six defeats for England in their last eight Tests.
Archer twice reduced New Zealand to 12/2 — a far cry from the Black Caps’ first-innings 319/2 — as captain Tom Latham and fellow opener Devon Conway, who scored 151 and 157 respectively in the game, both fell to single-digit scores.
Latham was lbw for four to a superb delivery from express pace that was angled and cut.
Conway, one of the top four left-handers, was hit on the helmet by an archer delivery that lofted badly from a good length.
Three balls later he fell for five, as he climbed sharply before flying to Joe Root at first slip to take the splice from around off another brutal Archer delivery.
With New Zealand at 51/3, Harry Brook — who had completely missed Henry Nicholls at wide first slip — made no mistake as the Black Caps No. 3 edged again.
But Ravindra whipped England captain Ben Stokes back through midwicket for the seventh boundary off 81 balls to reach his second half-century of the series.
Earlier, Nathan Smith took 4-91 and shock substitute Zach Foulkes took two key wickets as injury-hit New Zealand bowled out England for 354 to take an 84-run first-innings lead.
Foulkes, New Zealand’s first concussion replacement for Blair Tickner on Friday, took the prize from Stokes (15) and Brook (58) with figures of 3-35 in just 15.2 overs.
England were 3 for 11 at the start of play on Saturday, their overnight 223/2 234/5, with Root (21) and Jacob Bethel (74) unable to add to the score on Friday.
Injured seamer Matt Henry, who took 11 wickets at the Oval, and in-form towering paceman Kyle Jamieson were rested as fitness precautions before Tickner was sidelined.
Stokes, who joined Gus Atkinson in England’s 253-run defeat in the second Test at the Oval, returned after being dismissed for breaching the midnight curfew while celebrating in a London nightclub following their first Test victory over New Zealand.
Stokes took 4-70 in New Zealand’s first innings, putting the Black Caps in danger of taking their total past 500.
But Stokes, fresh from his 95 for county side Durham, managed just 15 on Saturday before he was dismissed by a superb Foulkes delivery that cut the left-arm batsman hard.