FOW: Compton c Rutherford b Williamson 7 (72/1)
England 354 and 116 for 1 (Cook 88*) lead New Zealand 174 (Swann 4-42, Finn 3-36) by 296 runs
If not, perhaps, quite a perfect day for England, but a day when several pieces of their pre-Ashes jigsaw fell into place with a satisfying click.
Most pertinently, this was a day when England proved their bowling attack had a Plan B. While it is routinely suggested that, when the ball does not swing, the England bowling attack looks toothless and one dimensional, here they showed that they have what it takes to damage opposition sides when there is no such help.
With James Anderson and Stuart Broad - the destroyers of New Zealand at Lord's - struggling to gain the same seam or swing movement, it was left to Graeme Swann and Steven Finn to find another way through the tourists' batting. With Finn generating impressive pace and maintaining a hostile line and length and Swann demonstrating beguiling drift and sharp turn, England ended the day having inked in their first choice bowling attack for the Ashes.
Swann cannot have the fondest memories of this ground. He had never previously taken a Test wicket here and, a year ago, was dropped for the second Test against South Africa. But in a spell of three wickets for one run in seven balls he not only dismantled a disappointingly fragile New Zealand middle-order but proved that he was back to his best after elbow surgery had forced him out of the Tests in New Zealand.
As so often before, Swann struck in his first over. Gaining a surprising amount of turn, Swann beat Dean Brownlie's somewhat loose stroke with one that turned through the gate to hit the top of off stump. Next over, having set-up Martin Guptill with some flat deliveries, Swann tossed one up, drew the batsman forward and again turned one through the gate to hit the top of off stump.
Two deliveries later, Kane Williamson was out too. Moving across his stumps to negate Swann much in the way demonstrated by Hashim Amla in 2012, Williamson was beaten by turn and struck on the pad. While Marais Erasmus turned down the appeal, England reviewed and were rewarded.
It was the first of two decisions overturned from England reviews in the session. While Tim Southee was originally given not out following a leg before appeal from Broad - the umpire quite reasonably unable to say whether ball had hit bat or pad first - reviews showed it had struck the pad first and was going on to hit leg stump.
Moments later Swann had Doug Bracewell taken at silly point, prodding forward to one that turned and took bat and pad, before Broad had Brendon McCullum, clearly struggling with a bad back after being forced back into service as wicketkeeper, caught behind as he poked at one that seamed in a little.
It left Swann with the best figures - 4 for 42 - by an England spinner in a Test in Leeds since John Emburey took 5 for 82 against Australia in 1985 and had New Zealand pondering over the wisdom of going into the game without a specialist spinner and with two left-arm seamers whose foot marks had provided rough for Swann to exploit.
But if Swann takes the plaudits, it was Finn who made the initial breakthrough. After New Zealand's openers had batted with fluency in reaching 55 without loss, Finn claimed the first three wickets in a sustained spell of hostile fast bowling.
After prompting an error from Peter Fulton, caught and bowled off the leading edge as he tried to work a ball that bounced more than he expected into the leg side, Finn persuaded Hamish Rutherford to push at one angled across him which resulted in a sliced edge to gully and then forced Ross Taylor to play-on. It was due reward for a wonderfully sustained spell of bowling where Finn had cramped Taylor for room, struck him twice on the body and finally provoked the false stroke.
New Zealand's last pair of Neil Wagner and Trent Boult thrashed 52 runs in 27 balls - Wagner thrashed four fours in an over off Broad before Boult thumped Swann for a four and two successive sixes in the next over - but when Anderson returned to end the innings, New Zealand had conceded a first innings lead of 180.
Perhaps surprisingly given the far from promising weather forecast, England decided not to enforce the follow-on - with day one washed out the follow-on target was 150-behind - and opted instead for another bat.
Alastair Cook, cutting and driving with freedom, was at his most fluent against an attack lacking Trent Boult, who was absent with a side strain. The England captain raced to his half-century off 63 balls and dominated an opening stand of 72 in 20 overs.
But the only obvious downside in the entire day for England was the failure of Nick Compton. He was clearly mindful of the vultures circling around him and laboured for 45 deliveries for his seven runs before falling to a bat-pad catch at short-leg. It is only three Tests since he registered back-to-back Test centuries, but it seems some have short memories.
Jonathan Trott found life little easier. Struggling to deal with the rough outside his off stump and some tight seam bowling, he managed only 11 off 69 deliveries, and, though he had helped Cook stretch the lead to 296 by stumps, England hardly forced home their advantage in the final 90 minutes. Still, it is England's policy - rightly or wrongly - to not allow the possibility of weather disruption to influence their game plan and, with nearly 200 overs left in the game, they remain in an overwhelmingly dominant position.
The day had started far better for New Zealand as Boult completed the second five-wicket haul of his Test career. England, resuming on 337 for 7, lost Matt Prior in the second over of the day, chasing an outswinger from Tim Southee and edging to first slip, before Steven Finn lost his off stump to an inswinger as he attempted a repeat of the crashing straight drive for four he had played the delivery before.
Three balls later, James Anderson offered a leading edge return catch to Boult and England's innings was over. They had added only 17 runs on the third day for the loss of three wickets and from the moment the second new ball was taken, England lost their last six wickets for 84 runs.
To follow-on or not?
Decision of the day
England's decision not to enforce the follow-on brought much debate. They had a 180-run lead when they dismissed New Zealand for 174 (the follow-on figure was 150 because the first day was washed out), and until some last-wicket slogging brought 52 from five overs, they had taken nine wickets for 70 runs in 26 overs. Even after Neil Wagner and Trent Boult's merry-making, they had still only been in the field for 43.4 overs.
So why did they not follow-on especially with the risk of rain on the final day? The temptation is to suggest that England's management had an eye on the Ashes. Absolutely no risk of overbowling their pace attack or, for that matter, Graeme Swann, who is not long back from an elbow operation, will be ta. There is also the fact that the follow-on is much more likely to go wrong for a four-bowler attack. But there was another reason - and it was that the pitch was still pretty flat as Alastair Cook emphasised with a blissful innings after tea.
Ball of the day
Swann's three-wicket burst attracted most of the attention, but a delivery from Steven Finn also sticks in the memory. It was the first ball received by Tim Southee, cutting back steeply off a good length, and almost slicing him in two as he managed an inside edge. Finn, back on his full run, was approaching his best again - more good news for England.
Anxiety of the day
Nick Compton's Ashes place is held to be under pressure, for all the protestations within the England camp that he has had a solid start to his Test career, and his anxiety was evident. He got off the mark to the first ball he faced, from Southee, with a dreadful shot - a foot-fast cut which sent the ball whistling behind square on the legside off an inside edge. He became ever more pensive and, even if you could advance a case that he had seen off the new ball, that he had played a team game by contentedly acting as second fiddle to Cook, and that Jonathan Trott was just as pawky, it was an unattractive, not to say limited, innings. The fact Compton had to await a New Zealand review for a clear bat-pad to forward short leg just added to his agony.
Injury of the day
The last thing New Zealand needed as they tried to recover self-respect was an injury to one of their pace bowlers. They suffered one all the same as Boult, who had taken the last two wickets to finish with 5 for 57, pulled out of the attack after aggravating a strained side after only two overs. Boult's figures were his second best in Tests, outdone only by his six wickets against England in Auckland in March.
NZ 174 (trail by 180 runs)
FOW: Fulton c & b Finn 28 (55/1), Rutherford c Bell b Finn 27 (62/2), Taylor b Finn 6 (72/3), DG Brownlie b Swann 2 (79/4), MJ Guptill b Swann 1 (81/5), KS Williamson lbw b Swann 13, (82/6), Southee lbw b Broad 19 (119-7), Bracewell c Bell b Swann 1 (122-8), McCullum c Prior b Broad 20 (122-9), Wagner b Anderson 27 (174 all out)
Tea New Zealand 174 (Swann 4-42, Finn 3-36) trail England 354 (Root 104, Bairstow 64, Boult 5-57) by 180 runs
It is routinely suggested that, when the ball does not swing, the England bowling attack looks toothless and one dimensional. But, on a day on which there was precious little movement available to James Anderson or Stuart Broad in the air or off the pitch, it was left to Steven Finn and Graeme Swann to show that England have a viable Plan B.
Swann cannot have the fondest memories of this ground. He had never previously taken a Test wicket here and, a year ago, was dropped for the second Test against South Africa. But in a spell of three wickets for one run in seven balls he not only dismantled the New Zealand middle-order but proved that he was back to his best after elbow surgery had forced him out of the Tests in New Zealand.
As so often before, Swann struck in his first over. Gaining a surprising amount of turn, Swann beat Dean Brownlie's somewhat loose drive with one that turned through the gate to hit the top of off stump.
Four deliveries later, having set-up Martin Guptill with some flat deliveries, Swann tossed one up, drew the batsman forward and again turned one through the gate to hit the top of off stump.
Two deliveries later, Kane Williamson was out, too. Moving across his stumps to negate Swann much in the way demonstrated by Hashim Amla in 2012, Williamson was beaten playing across the line and was struck on the pad. While Marais Erasmus originally turned down the appeal, England utilised the review system and were rewarded.
It was the first of two decisions overturned after England reviews in the session. Tim Southee was originally given not out following a leg before appeal from Broad - the umpire quite reasonably unable to say whether ball had hit bat or pad first - reviews showed it had struck the pad first and was going on to hit leg stump.
Moments later Swann had Doug Bracewell taken at silly point, prodding forward to one that turned and took pad and bat, before Broad had Brendon McCullum, clearly struggling with a bad back after being forced back into service as a wicketkeeper, caught behind as he poked at one that seamed in a little.
It left Swann with the best figures - 4 for 42 - by an England spinner in a Test at Headingley since John Emburey took 5 for 82 against Australia in 1985 and New Zealand pondering over the wisdom of going into the game without a specialist spinner and with two left-arm seamers whose foot marks had provided rough for Swann to exploit.
But if Swann takes the plaudits, it was Finn who made the initial breakthrough. After New Zealand's openers had batted with fluency in reaching 55 without loss, Finn claimed the first three wickets in a sustained spell of hostile fast bowling.
After prompting an error from Peter Fulton, caught and bowled off the leading edge as he tried to work the ball into the leg side, Finn persuaded Hamish Rutherford to push at one angled across him which resulted in a sliced edge to gully and then persuaded Ross Taylor to play-on. It was due reward for a wonderfully sustained spell of bowling where Finn had cramped Taylor for room, struck him twice on the body and finally provoked the false stroke.
New Zealand's last pair of Neil Wagner and Trent Boult thrashed 52 runs in 27 balls - Wagner thrashed four fours in an over off Broad before Boult thumped Swann for a four and two successive sixes in the next over - but when Anderson returned to end the innings, New Zealand had conceded a first innings lead of 180.
Perhaps surprisingly given the far from promising weather forecast, England decided not to enforce the follow-on - with rain having delayed the toss until the start of the second day the follow-on target was 205; 150 behind England with this being a four-day game - and opted instead for another bat.
Lunch report: New Zealand 62 for 2 (Williamson 4*, Taylor 0*) trail England 354 (Root 104, Bairstow 64, Boult 5-57) by 292 runs
Two quick wickets for Steven Finn arrested New Zealand's progress on the third morning of the second Test in Leeds. New Zealand had been progressing smoothly after wrapping up the England first innings in the first five overs of the morning, their openers batted with fluency until Finn struck.
Peter Fulton and Hamish Rutherford reached 55 without loss before Finn's extra pace made the breakthrough. After prompting an error from Fulton, caught and bowled off the leading edge as he tried to work the ball into the leg side, Finn persuaded Rutherford to push at one angled across him which resulted in a sliced edge to gully.
The day had started far better for New Zealand as Trent Boult completed the second five-wicket haul of his Test career. England, resuming on 337 for 7, lost Matt Prior in the second over of the day, chasing an outswinger from Tim Southee and edging to first slip, before Steven Finn lost his off stump to an inswinger as he attempted a repeat of the crashing straight drive for four he had played the delivery before.
Three balls later, James Anderson offered a leading edge return catch to Boult and England's innings was over. They had added only 17 runs on the third day for the loss of three wickets and overall Boult had taken 5 for 24 runs in seven overs with the second new ball. From the moment the second new ball was taken, England lost their last six wickets for 84 runs.
New Zealand's reply had started well, too. With England's bowlers struggling to find the swing that their New Zealand counterparts had enjoyed, Fulton and Rutherford looked relatively comfortable. Fulton whipped anything straying on to his legs through midwicket, while Rutherford left well and then unleashed two sweetly-driven fours off James Anderson and the introduction of Finn was greeted with a flowing drive through the covers by Fulton.
The England bowlers, concerned by the lack of swing, claimed the ball had lost its shape and eventually persuaded the umpires to change the ball, but it was Finn's pace and bounce, delivered on a tight line and length, that broke through.
Eng 354 99 overs
FOW: Prior c Taylor b Southee 39 (345/8)
Finn b Boult 6, (354/9)
Anderson c & b Boult 0, (354)
England 354 (Root 104, Bairstow 64, Boult 5-57) v New Zealand
New Zealand took only five overs to wrap up the England first innings of the third morning of the second Test at Leeds, with Trent Boult claiming the second five-wicket haul of his Test career.
England, resuming on 337 for 7, lost Matt Prior in the second over of the day, chasing an outswinger from Tim Southee and edging to first slip, before Steven Finn lost his off stump to an inswinger as he attempted a repeat of the crashing straight drive for four he had played the delivery before.
Three balls later, James Anderson offered a leading edge return catch to Boult and England's innings was over. They had added only 17 runs on the third day for the loss of three wickets and overall Boult took 5 for 24 in seven overs with the second new ball.
Their first innings total may still prove more than respectable, though.
From 67 for 3 and then 146 for 4, they could feel well satisfied with a score in excess of 350. They will be aware, however, that from the moment the new ball was taken, they lost six wickets for 84 runs.
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