A seventh Test century from Stephen Fleming spurred New Zealand to 295 for four at stumps on day one of the third Test at Trent Bridge but two wickets in two balls from Steve Harmison late on kept England in the hunt.
Scott Styris also weighed in with an aggressive half century and was still there on 68 at the close alongside Jacob Oram (10 not out).
After winning the toss and deciding to bat on a flat wicket in the Nottingham sunshine, Fleming played a fluent innings as he returned to the opening berth in a patched-up New Zealand side.
The Kiwi captain showed no jitters in the 90s, where he has been dismissed four times in his career, flicking an effortless six off Martin Saggers to reach three figures.
He was finally out for 117 off 198 balls, edging Andrew Flintoff to Graham Thorpe at a wide fourth slip with a lazy shot.
England, looking for their first series whitewash over New Zealand in 26 years, would have felt hard done by in the first two sessions after several good shouts for lbw.
But Harmison eventually received reward for some testing spells when Nathan Astle dragged on for 15 and next ball the returning Craig McMillan was adjudged lbw for a duck.
England spinner Ashley Giles made the first breakthrough midway through the afternoon session.
Mark Richardson made 73, his 19th Test half-century, before coming down the track to Giles and not quite reaching the pitch, lobbing an easy catch to Michael Vaughan at mid-on.
England's Andrew Strauss spilled a simple chance at short leg when Richardson misjudged a quicker ball from Steve Harmison on only five.
Strauss got a hand to the ball but knocked it onto the grill of his helmet before it fell to the ground.
Fleming also escaped two good lbw shouts early on although much of England's bowling in the first session gave too much room outside off stump on a slow pitch with little bounce.
Harmison, who grabbed figures of two for 59 off 23 overs, and Giles, who spun the ball more than usual, helped slow the run rate as the day wore on.
New Zealand dropped seamer Daryl Tuffey, who has been ineffective on tour, and replaced him with debutant Kyle Mills while left-arm seamer James Franklin, who played two Tests in 2001, came in for the injured Daniel Vettori.
England kept the side that took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series with a nine-wicket victory at Headingley on Monday.
The last time England swept a Test series against New Zealand was in 1978 when Mike Brearley's side won 3-0 at home.
Scoreboard
New Zealand (1st innings):
M.Richardson c Vaughan b Giles 73
S.Fleming c Thorpe b Flintoff 117
S.Styris not out 68
N.Astle b Harmison 15
C.McMillan lbw Harmison 0
J.Oram not out 10.
Extras: (lb-8, b-2, nb-2) 12.
Total: (for four wickets, 90 overs) 295
Fall of wickets: 1-163, 2-225, 3-272, 4-272.
To bat: C.Cairns, B.McCullum, K.Mills, J.Franklin, C.Martin
Bowling: Hoggard 16-4-61-0 (nb-1), Harmison 23-6-59-2, Flintoff 12-2-41-1, Saggers 14-3-58-0 (nb-1), Giles 24-5-61-1, Vaughan 1-0-5-0 England: M.Trescothick, A.Strauss, M.Butcher, M.Vaughan, G.Thorpe, A.Flintoff, G.Jones, A.Giles, M.Hoggard, S.Harmison, M.Saggers.
