Alastair Cook failed again but England remained in a strong position in the second cricket Test against New Zealand here, leading by 142 runs with nine second innings wickets remaining at tea on the third day.
At the interval, after leading by 29 runs on the first innings, England was 113-1 with James Vince 55 not out and Mark Stoneman unbeaten on 42.
Cook made 14 before being caught behind from the bowling of Trent Boult, the fourth time in the series and the ninth time in his career that Cook has been dismissed by the New Zealand left-armer. He has had scores in the current two-Test series of 5, 2, 2 and 14 at an average of 5.7.
His dismissal Sunday was demonstrative of his current lack of form and confidence as he unnecessarily played at a wide delivery from Boult and edged the ball to wicketkeeper B.J. Watling.
Vince has also been out of form in this series with scores of 25, 18 and 18 in his three previous innings but looked far more fluent Sunday on a pitch at Hagley Oval which was no longer aiding the fast bowlers, though leg-spinner Ish Sodhi turned a couple out of footmarks late in the second session.
The Englishman reached his half century from 71 balls with nine fours, including a blistering cover drive off Sodhi to raise the milestone.
Stoneman also looked comfortable as England steadily built its lead and will look to score his second half-century of the series after his 55 in the first test at Auckland.
Earlier, Stuart Broad took 6-54 and shared all 10 wickets with new ball partner James Anderson as England bowled out New Zealand for 278 in reply to its first innings of 307.
Broad and Anderson both took two of the four New Zealand wickets which fell Sunday as the home side added 86 runs to its overnight total of 192-6. Watling, resuming at 77, made 85 and followed his England opposite Jonny Bairstow in marshaling the tail after the failure of the top order.
New Zealand had been 36-5 before Watling and Colin de Grandhomme added 142 for the seventh wicket. While Watling's contribution on Sunday was brief before he was bowled by Anderson, his overnight partner Tim Southee went on to make 50, his fourth test half century.
It was the second time in his career Southee had completed the double of five wickets and a half century in a Test -- the first since he did so on debut against England in 2008.
Broad captured his 16th five wicket bag in tests when he dismissed Ish Sodhi (1), giving Bairstow his fifth catch of the innings, and Trent Boult (16) to end the innings. Boult put on 39 for the last wicket with Neil Wagner (24 not out) to help New Zealand reduce the first innings deficit.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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