England held a near impregnable lead of 421 runs in the second cricket Test against New Zealand as they reached 277 for nine at stumps on the third day here on Saturday.

The margin is already ahead of the current record winning fourth innings total in the history of Test cricket of 418.
When Paul Collingwood fell in the final over of the day, England did not immediately declare, indicating they want to milk the fourth morning for as many more runs as possible before the last wicket falls.

Collingwood, who posted his second half-century of the match reaching 59 before he went leg before wicket to Mark Gillespie, has been central to England’s bid to even the series after New Zealand won the first Test.

He scored 65 in the first innings where he featured in a telling 164-run stand for the sixth wicket with Tim Ambrose in what has become the match-turning partnership. Apart from Ambrose’s first innings century, the England batsmen have largely failed to build scores of substance. Alastair Cook’s 60, 44 from Andrew Strauss and 41 from Ian Bell were the other notable performances.