Wellington, Mar 15: Matt Prior and Kevin Pietersen made half centuries and Stuart Broad captured wickets with consecutive balls as England held off a New Zealand rally to stay in command of the second cricket test on Friday following an eventful second day.
Prior (82) and Pietersen (73) lifted England to 465 in its first innings after it briefly had been challenged by a determined New Zealand bowling performance.
Broad then removed Hamish Rutherford (23) and Ross Taylor with successive deliveries in the late afternoon to leave New Zealand staggering at 66-3 in reply at stumps.
Rutherford was caught at slip by Alastair Cook, who had previously caught Peter Fulton for 1 when New Zealand was six.
Taylor then walked past the first ball he faced from Broad and was bowled, leaving Kane Williamson, 32 not out, and Dean Brownlie to guide New Zealand to stumps.
