An inspired and unbeaten knock of 132 from Harry Brook helped put England in the ascendancy on the second day of the first Test at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
With New Zealand's first innings having been wrapped up at 348 all out, the tourists had their fair share of luck while at the crease with six dropped catches from the hosts at various points throughout the day.
Despite that, England managed to finish on 319-5 at stumps.
Of those drops, four were for Brook, without whom England would surely be facing a comprehensive defeat.
It had been a salvage job from the 25-year-old, who put on a fifth-wicket partnership of 151 runs with Ollie Pope (77) before the latter was caught brilliantly by a flying Glenn Phillips at gully.
At the nadir of their innings and prior to the aforementioned partnership, England had been 71-4 thanks to some excellent New Zealand bowling, with Jacob Bethell making just 10 on his Test debut.
Following Pope's dismissal, England captain Ben Stokes came in to bat in the city of his birth. He put on an unbroken stand of 97 runs with Brook, making 37 himself and looked closer to his best.
Stokes, though, was one of three who was dropped by New Zealand captain Tom Latham while on 30 runs.
Speaking about the missed opportunities during England's innings, New Zealand's Nathan Smith was not too downhearted.
"We judge ourselves off the chances we create and we created enough out there," he told TNT Sports.
"I think a couple of catches going to hand there, it's a completely different story. But they got a couple of good partnerships and we just need to break them with the new ball tomorrow.
"The bounce is there and when the ball is a bit newer, there is some nice seam movement as well. It's just about trying to control the run rate, which is tough against these guys with the old ball.
"We probably got it a little bit wrong going wide to Brook, but I thought we brought it back nicely at the end there."
Data debrief: Brilliant Brook reaches new heights
Brook's132 brought his away-from-home batting average to 93, which puts him second in the all-time list behind Don Bradman.
The score accrued during his innings also means that he now has over 2,000 Test runs.
Brook has clocked up that total in just 36 innings, putting him eighth on the all-time quickest list to have reached 2,000 runs.
Seamers lead the way as England hit back after strong New Zealand start
Gus Atkinson and Matthew Potts spearheaded England's bowling attack as New Zealand reached stumps on day one on 315-9.
Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to field at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Saturday.
That decision appeared to have backfired when Black Caps openers Tom Latham and Will Young put on 105 between them, before the latter was dismissed on 42 as Atkinson made the breakthrough.
Potts (3-75) subsequently dismissed Latham (63), before Rachin Ravindra (18) was sent packing by Brydon Carse (2-78).
Kane Williamson (44) was Potts' second wicket, and that dismissal at the end of the 59th over sparked a mid-order collapse.
Daryl Mitchell (14), the dangerous Tom Blundell (21) and Glenn Phillips (five) fell to Atkinson, Carse and Potts respectively.
Harry Brook took a spectacular catch in the deep to take out Matt Henry from Stokes' bowling, flicking the ball up while he negotiated the boundary rope before securing it when he was back on the right side of the line, with Tim Southee (23) the final wicket of the day to fall for New Zealand, as Atkinson finished play on 3-55.
Mitchell Santner heads into day two unbeaten on 50, with Will O'Rouke at the other end, as New Zealand will look to push on towards the 350 mark.
Data Debrief: England must buck a trend
New Zealand are undefeated in their last four men's Tests at Seddon Park when they have batted first in the match (W3 D1).
In fact, they have not lost at the venue when batting first since March 2012 against South Africa.
Their innings started well, but England showed resilience to fight back, with Potts - selected ahead of Chris Woakes - one of their standout seamers, albeit the excellent Atkinson, who took a hat-trick in the second Test, closed out day one with the best figures.
'We have the players' - Tuchel confident of talent in England squad
Thomas Tuchel believes England have the players and the talent to go far in the 2026 World Cup.
The German will officially take charge of the Three Lions from January 1 but was present at the qualifying draw which took place at UEFA headquarters in Zurich on Friday.
Tuchel is tasked with reaching the World Cup for an eighth consecutive edition, with England reaching the semi-finals and quarter-finals in the previous two under Gareth Southgate.
Asked if he felt he had the players available to win the competition, should they qualify, Tuchel told Sky Sports: "I knew this before and watching the matches, we have the players, the talent and the characteristics to go far. But now, first of all, we have to prove it in the qualifiers.
"It gets closer and closer, the gaps between the big nations and the smaller nations. It closes every tournament.
"It's more difficult to win your games, so we have to show full respect and show our top level from March when it starts."
One of those players is striker Harry Kane, who came under criticism following Euro 2024, in which he scored just three goals, earning him a share of the Golden Boot, amid underwhelming performances on their run to the final.
Kane was a regular fixture for Tuchel after joining Bayern Munich last August and scored 44 goals in all competitions under the 51-year-old, who says the striker will remain as captain.
"There's no need at the moment to look at other options. It's like for Harry, for everyone else as well," he said.
"I admire him, for his quality, for his leadership, for his character. The players decide in the end if they play, or they don't play. It's always like that.
"I'm happy to have this group of players, including Harry, big personalities and quality. The job now is to find and build the best group that people are excited to watch us, that they feel inspired watching this team."
England will face Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra in Group K in a bid to reach the tournament held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and have never lost against any of those four sides.
"I have huge respect for Serbia and Albania. They can always surprise," Tuchel added.
"They have a strong history of football, of technical football, of emotional crowd and emotional players and emotional groups. They have famous ex-players as coaches so we should be very aware of that.
"England never played Latvia, so this is a new experience for all of us, and then we have Andorra, where we are huge favourites, but we have to qualify. This is the most important thing.
"This is where all the focus goes. There cannot be any other approach than taking it seriously, take it with respect and make it happen before we can dream the dream."
Hendricks ton steers South Africa to series win over Pakistan
Reeza Hendricks plundered 117 as he helped South Africa to a seven-wicket victory over Pakistan in their second T20I, giving them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
After impressive performances from David Miller, who missed this match with a calf injury, and George Linde in the first T20I in Durban, Hendricks took his chance, helping the Proteas surpass their 207 target with three balls left.
Pakistan lost Mohammad Rizwan in the powerplay for just 11 runs, but Saim Ayub, who lasted the entire 20 overs, steadied the ship as he steadily racked up 98 off 57 balls.
Babar Azam (31) and Ifran Khan Niazi (30) pushed them towards their respectable 206-5, though they will feel they could have got more if they had not lost three quick wickets between the 12th and 15th overs.
South Africa got off to a slow start though, with Ryan Rickleton dismissed for just two runs by Jahanad Khan (2-40). However, his fellow opener Hendricks, who scored his first T20I century, soon found his rhythm with Rassie van der Dussen (66 not out).
Pakistan had no answers as they put together a 157-run third-wicket partnership, and though Abbas Afridi finally ended Hendricks' stand in the 18th over, Heinrich Klaasen (eight) stepped in to help get it over the line.
Data Debrief: Record-breaker
Hendricks was by far the stand out for the hosts, hitting seven fours and 10 sixes in his knock, as he claimed his first ton for South Africa in the format.
It was also the 18th time he has racked up a score of 50+ in T20Is, the most for South Africa, surpassing Quinton de Kock's record.
His partnership with Van der Dussen on the third wicket is also a new high for the Proteas, with their 157 runs beating AB de Villers and Richard Levi's tally of 133 in T20Is.
Pakistan contribued to those new records as well though, with 416 the highest match aggregate involving the two teams in this format.
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