At the tea break New Zealand's effort to reach a world-record 550 was in tatters at 270/6 with only Nathan Astle offering anything like the required resistance. He was 83 not out off 99 balls with Daniel Vettori four not out.

Astle was four runs short of becoming the seventh New Zealand batsman to score 3000 Test runs while Caddick was closing in on his best Test bowling performance of seven for 46. He had five for 77 from his 22 overs.

Disappointment again followed the New Zealand batting effort and there was genuine reason for concern with Craig McMillan's dismissal.

It is doubtful that McMillan has ever played a more abject shot than that which led to his departure when offering Andrew Caddick a simple caught and bowled chance from the first ball of a new spell.

Having just added 53 runs in off 71 balls with Nathan Astle, there was no pressure whatsoever on McMillan to worry about such a careless, or inopportune, shot.

McMillan scored 24 off 31 balls and had been flirting unnecessarily with danger throughout his innings with some of his shots just lobbing over fieldsmen.

Then Adam Parore made a brief appearance before attempting to get his bat out of the way of a Caddick delivery, but he failed to lift it high enough and the ball blasted into his leg stump. He scored one and New Zealand were 252/6.

Meanwhile, Astle was charging on relentlessly. Some of his shots were little short of awe-inspiring. One pull for six from Matthew Hoggard was vicious in its execution as it cannoned into the square leg fence with the fieldsmen in the region, about 10 metres wide of the flight path, hardly having time to turn to his left to even contemplate fielding the ball.

Another, a straight drive off the last ball of left-arm spinner Ashley Giles' first over of his second flew like a low-flying missile just wide of the sight screen for a sweetly struck six.

Astle scored his 50 off 54 balls but the next 20 runs proved much harder to score.

At the middle session drinks break, New Zealand were 205/4, with Nathan Astle on 50 and Craig McMillan seven.

The loss of captain Stephen Fleming, caught behind from an inside edge off the second ball of a new Andrew Flintoff spell, was a big blow.

Fleming had been batting with some assurance in getting to 48 off 109 balls but Flintoff got a ball through his defences and Fleming paid the price.

Nathan Astlewent to lunch on 13, but set about run gathering at a run a ball pace, including running four to mid-wicket off one shot played to Andrew Caddick's bowling.

Caddick proved a little more costly than usual at Astle's hands as he hit him for four over slips, an off drive for four and a back cut to the boundary in quick succession.

However, it was in seeing 14 runs taken off a Caddick over that Nasser Hussain made the bowling change to Flintoff that accounted for Fleming.

Astle carried out with Craig McMillan to share the duties and an expertly guided ball through the vacant gully produced the four runs that gave Astle his half century off 54 balls, the 14th of his career.

England were still awaiting news of Mark Butcher's thumb injury after he went to hospital for an x-ray after hitting the thumb making the catch to dismiss Lou Vincent.

But the dismissal was not without controversy.

Caddick was bowling around the wicket to the left-handed Richardson for the first over of his second spell of the morning.

Richardson ducked under a short ball which grazed his shoulder and that was sufficient for umpire Asoka de Silva to give Richardson out, caught by wicket-keeper James Foster for 76 scored off 136 balls.

That left New Zealand 119/3. At lunch, New Zealand were 140/3 with Stephen Fleming 30 and Nathan Astle 13.

Earlier, Richardson, on 70, was given not out to a plumb leg before wicket appeal from Matthew Hoggard's bowling off de Silva.

It was also England's turn to miss catches during the first session of day four.

The first catch put down was by first slip Nasser Hussain who reciprocated Stephen Fleming's first innings grassing of a chance, by dropping the New Zealand captain when he was on four from Matthew Hoggard's bowling.

Richardson survived an appeal for leg before wicket by Hoggard off a ball that looked headed for halfway up Richardson's middle stump when he was on 70.

Then when still on the same score, Richardson was dropped by wicket-keeper James Foster standing up to Ashley Giles' bowling.

A brief flurry from Astle in the last over before lunch saw four cut and four cover driven off successive balls

Caddick went to the lunch break with three for 35 off his 15 overs. Hoggard had none for 52, Giles none for 39 off 14 and Flintoff none for six off two.

At the drinks break after the first 75 minutes, New Zealand were 66/2 with Mark Richardson on 50 not out and Stephen Fleming two not out.

An out-of-touch Horne scratched around for around half an hour taking 21 balls to score his first run of the morning. But it was only a matter of time before Caddick homed in his radar and when he did the ball he produced an absolute peach of a ball which bounced on him and he edged straight behind to James Foster and was out for four.

Lou Vincent came in and was quickly reduced to mortality when the third ball he faced was of similar nature to that which dismissed Horne and he edged to Mark Butcher at second slip to be out for duck.

With the competition on for places in the side there is little room for mistakes like Vincent has made in this match.

In the meantime, Mark Richardson opted to attack. An off-drive from Matthew Hoggard's bowling raced for four and he followed that up with a cut for another boundary which was sufficient for Nasser Hussain to opt to have Ashley Giles bowling from the southern end.

Richardson was watchful against Giles and in his fourth over of the day he lobbed the ball over wide long on for four and then two balls later swung the ball to backward square leg for four to go to 47.

Just before posting his half century he survived an appeal for a bat-pad catch, the ball having hit his elbow. Next ball he flung the ball to square leg for the single that provided ninth half century in his 14th Test. It came off 90 balls and included 110 fours.