Home side put themselves in the box-seat to win the Test and the series.
Despite losing a day to wet weather, England are in an excellent situation to win the second Test match with New Zealand at the close of day three.
Both bowlers and batsmen did their job as England lead by 296 runs in their second innings with just a single wicket back in the change-rooms.
Excellent bowling from the England seamers and Graeme Swann sparked another Kiwi collapse that saw them lose 6-105.
If it was not for some handy late-innings runs from Neil Wager (27) and Trent Boult (24) the visitors would have fallen well inside the follow-on target of 200.
As a result of their 52-run partnerships, England captain Alastair Cook decided against making New Zealand bat again as he looked to put the game out of reach of the New Zealand side, who finished their first innings on just 174.
The best of the English bowlers in the Kiwi first innings included Steve Finn and Swann, who picked up seven of the 10 wickets available to them.
Swann bowled with control and bounce, despite the seamers being the biggest factor to date in the short series, to snare 4-42.
While Finn did most of his damage in the New Zealand top-order as he grabbed 3-36 in what was another disappointing effort with the bat from the visitors, with Peter Fulton top-scorer on just 28.
In their second innings, England pushed the run-rate along to see them score 72 runs for the first wicket before Nick Compton registered another disappointing score of just seven.
Alastair Cook played a very good captain’s knock to close out the day, as he finished on 88no to put his side in an excellent position.
With two days to play and New Zealand top-order looking very brittle the last two times at the crease, only the weather could save the visitors from a 2-0 series whitewash.
England v New Zealand
Played at Headingley
Toss won by England
England 1st Innings (overnight: 337-7)
A. Cook c Brownlie b Bracewell 34
N. Compton c Brownlie b Southee 1
J. Trott c McCullum b Wagner 28
I. Bell c McCullum b Williamson 30
J. Root c McCullum b Boult 104
J. Bairstow c McCullum b Boult 64
M. Prior c Taylor b Southee 39
S. Broad c McCullum b Boult 0
G. Swann not out 26
S. Finn b Boult 6
J. Anderson c and b Boult 0
Extras (b9, lb7, w5, nb1) 22
Total (all out, 99 overs, 449 mins) 354
Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Compton), 2-67 (Trott), 3-67 (Cook), 4-146 (Bell), 5-270 (Root), 6-279 (Bairstow), 7-286 (Broad), 8-345 (Prior), 9-354 (Finn), 10-354 (Anderson)
Bowling: Boult 22-4-57-5 (2w); Southee 26-6-76-2 (2w); Wagner 23-4-73-1 (1nb, 1w); Bracewell 19-3-83-1; Williamson 9-0-49-1
New Zealand 1st Innings
P. Fulton c and b Finn 28
H. Rutherford c Bell b Finn 27
K. Williamson lbw b Swann 13
R. Taylor b Finn 6
D. Brownlie b Swann 2
M. Guptill b Swann 1
B. McCullum c Prior b Broad 20
T. Southee lbw b Broad 19
D. Bracewell c Bell b Swann 1
N. Wagner b Anderson 27
T. Boult not out 24
Extras (lb5, w1) 6
Total (all out, 43.4 overs, 211 mins)174
Fall of wickets: 1-55 (Fulton), 2-62 (Rutherford), 3-72 (Taylor), 4-79 (Brownlie), 5-81 (Guptill), 6-82 (Williamson), 7-119 (Southee), 8-122 (Bracewell), 9-122 (McCullum), 10-174 (Wagner)
Bowling: Anderson 7.4-2-34-1; Broad 15-2-57-2 (1w); Finn 12-3-36-3; Swann 9-1-42-4
England 2nd Innings
A. Cook not out 88
N. Compton c Rutherford b Williamson 7
J. Trott not out 11
Extras (b8, lb1, w1) 10
Total (1 wkt, 41 overs, 176 mins) 116
Fall of wickets: 1-72 (Compton)
To bat: I Bell, J Root, J Bairstow, M Prior, S Broad, G Swann, S Finn, J Anderson
Bowling: Boult 2-1-2-0; Southee 9-3-30-0; Wagner 9-2-31-0; Williamson 15-4-32-1; Bracewell 6-3-12-0 (1w);
Match position: England lead by 296 runs with nine second innings wickets standing.
COMMENTS