England had no doubts they made the right decision to enforce the follow-on even after New Zealand dug in to claw their way back into the second Test.
Ben Stokes sent the Kiwis back into bat with a 226-run deficit midway through the third morning in Wellington, hoping to wrap up a series-clinching victory before the day was out.
It was very much in keeping with the positive mindset that has helped England win ten of their 11 Tests since Stokes became captain and Brendon McCullum coach.
However, New Zealand headed into day four overnight just 24 runs behind on 202 for three, after a 149-run stand between openers Tom Latham (83) and Devon Conway (61) led their resistance.
Spinners Jack Leach, with two dismissals, and Joe Root took three wickets for 18 runs after the former made the breakthrough, before Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls dug in until close.
That left England with work to do, although they remained favourites to win the two-Test series 2-0.
Assistant coach Paul Collingwood backed the decision made by England’s captain, saying: ‘It was very clear this morning. Stokesy spoke to the guys and said, “If we get the chance to follow on, we’re going to enforce it”.
‘He was very clear on that and that’s the approach of Stokesy and Baz (McCullum). They want the aggressive option and hopefully to win the game today.
‘It didn’t turn out that way but we’re still in a really good position.
‘The mantra of this team is always to take the aggressive approach and there was no doubt in Stokesy’s mind that if we got the opportunity that was the way he was going to go.
‘We have always said we’re not scared of losing but we want to get ourselves in a position of winning games and we felt we could have won, or got close to winning, today.’
Earlier, Tim Southee smashed 73 from 49 balls to drag his side to 209 all out in their first innings before Stuart Broad polished off the tail to finish with four for 61. James Anderson and Leach took three wickets apiece.
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