Black Caps on back foot in test

Advantage England. Now it’s all but a case of how long they feel they need to snare 10 New Zealand wickets to level the two-test series.

The tourists reached 202-3 in their second innings at stumps at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval yesterday, boasting an overall lead of 231 with two days to play.

Chasing a win to finish a lengthy, and so far unfruitful, tour of Australia and New Zealand on a high, England captain Joe Root will be sure not to sell his team short.

With wickets in hand, they’re in a position to bat New Zealand out of the game and give themselves ample time to knock them over.

Of course, the hosts aren’t yet out of it. A flurry of wickets early on day four will change the complexion of a match which has somewhat see-sawed throughout.

Root (30) and Dawid Malan (19) will continue England’s second innings today, which started with them holding a lead of 29.

England, having dismissed the home side for 278, suffered an early setback when out-of-sorts Alistair Cook (two runs) was caught behind off Trent Boult’s bowling.

However, under-fire opener Mark Stoneman (60) and No 3 James Vince (76) combined for a 123-run stand on a Hagley Oval surface hiding few demons.

Stoneman, perhaps batting to save his spot in the team, was dropped twice – by Ross Taylor and Tim Southee in the slips – and survived a review after he’d been given caught behind off Neil Wagner’s bowling.

Before Stoneman was well caught by keeper BJ Watling after chasing a wide delivery, he and Vince were relatively untroubled as England set about establishing a stronghold on the game.