England take control in the Wellington Test …

On a third day containing less intrigue than the first two, England remained well in control of the second Test and holds a 421-run lead over New Zealand in Wellington.

There were no centuries, no five-wicket bags, no demons in the pitch and few twists and turns as England set out in a determined fashion to score 9-277 and earn an advantage that will take a Herculean effort to chase down.

In fact it would be a record-breaking one on a couple of accounts. No team in Test cricket has chased down more than the West Indies' 418 to beat Australia in 2003, nor have there been any higher at the Basin Reserve than Pakistan's 277 the same year.

While it never set the run-rate column alight and its trend continued of players making starts before perishing, England progressed steadily through the day after resuming at 0-4 - a lead of 148.

Day 3 Highlights :

Michael Vaughan (13) was the only casualty in the morning session as the visitors, aiming to square the series at 1-1, moved through to 1-106.

The middle and final sessions weren't as fruitful, resulting in totals of 3-61 and 5-100, but New Zealand was always kept at arm's length.

New Zealand bemoaned three dropped chances that doused its slim hopes of knocking over England for around 150-200, with Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood enjoying second lives.

A spill by Brendon McCullum cost 55 of Cook's 60 runs and Collingwood's second half-century of the match, which ended at 59, was indebted to Mark Gillespie's second clanger of the match that allowed him to move off zero.

Ian Bell was also grassed in a tough chance to Mathew Sinclair, who eventually took him off Jacob Oram's bowling for 41, to round out New Zealand's third day in a row behind the eight-ball.

Cook and Andrew Strauss' (44) second-wicket stand of 106 was the shining light on a day where New Zealand tried to bowl fuller in its quest for wickets but never looked likely to tip the balance of the match.

Amazingly, Cook produced the first six of his 25-Test career in the process, top-edging a hook off Chris Martin over McCullum's head just over the rope. It took him 2047 runs to manage it, albeit in streaky fashion.

Oram, more a stock bowler than a wicket-taker in the five-day game, was again far and away New Zealand's best and followed his first-innings efforts with 3-44 off 20 overs, including the wickets of Strauss, Bell and day two centurion Tim Ambrose (five).

Mills toiled away with passion and his frustration late in the day was plain to see at not faring better than his 2-58