New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum perished just four runs short of a century in his first Test at Lord's after an agonising crawl through the 90s.
McCullum played and missed repeatedly at England fast bowler Simon Jones on Sunday, moving the ball away from the bat at pace from the Pavilion End, before finally succumbing for 96, caught by the bowler's namesake Geraint Jones behind the stumps.
Left-arm spinner Ashley Giles then swung a fascinating first Test match back England's way with two wickets in three balls as New Zealand reached lunch on the fourth day on a precarious 198 for four in their second innings, an overall lead of 143.
Opener Mark Richardson, out for 93 in the first innings, was again the anchorman with an unbeaten 72 while all rounder Jacob Oram had scored three.
McCullum, 72 not out overnight when New Zealand resumed at 134 for one, leg-glanced Matthew Hoggard's first ball of the day from the Pavilion End for four and was gifted another boundary with a similar shot after a wayward delivery from Steve Harmison from the other end.
Harmison's first five balls were all down the leg side and he was taken off after an unimpressive opening spell of three overs for 10 runs.
Captain Marcus Trescothick introduced Giles from the Nursery End after half an hour's play, a bold move after the spinner had conceded 55 from his previous nine overs in the match.
MORE ACCURATE
Richardson used his feet once to on-drive a four but overall Giles, bowling at leg-stump from over the wicket, bowled much more accurately than he had done previously.
After Hoggard was removed from the attack following an innocuous opening spell, McCullum played a wild slash at Jones's second ball without making contact. He was then beaten twice in a row outside the off-stump before getting a single to move to 90.
He was only a boundary short of a first Test century in only his seventh innings after hitting 14 boundaries from 162 balls when he pushed once too often at Jones and was comfortably caught behind from a thick edge.
Scott Styris avoided a pair when he pushed Jones for two but added just two more before he was out caught at silly point by Nasser Hussain pushing forward to Giles.
Craig McMillan drove his first ball hard to mid-off without gaining a run and then tried an ambitious sweep from the next delivery.
He bottom-edged the ball on to his pad and Hussain leaped jubilantly to take the catch and fully justify Tresothick's decision to place his faith in Giles, whose figures at the interval were 15-1-45-2.
Scoreboard
New Zealand (1st innings): 386 (M.Richardson 93, C.Cairns 82, J.Oram 67, N.Astle 64; S.Harmison 4-126)
England (1st innings): 441 (A.Strauss 112, M.Trescothick 86, A.Flintoff 63)
New Zealand (2nd innings): (overnight 134-1)
M.Richardson not out 72
S.Fleming c Hussain b Harmison 4
B.McCullum c G.Jones b S.Jones 96
S.Styris c Hussain b Giles 4
C.McMillan c Hussain b Giles 0
J.Oram not out 3.
Extras: (b-3, lb-9, nb-7) 19.
Total: (for four wickets, 68 overs) 198
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-180, 3-187, 4-187
To bat: D.Tuffey, C.Cairns, N.Astle, D.Vettori, C.Martin.
Bowling: Harmison 15-7-39-1, Flintoff 10-2-26-0, Hoggard 14-3-39-0 (5-nb), S.Jones 14-3-37-1 (2-nb), Giles 15-1-45-2
