Cricket still felt like a frivolous pastime today, but England applied themselves with more seriousness than anyone had a right to expect and enjoyed their most dominant day since the heady Headingley runchase back in August. The bowlers were on the money, the fielders penny-pinching, the batsmen millionaires, and New Zealand were left to count the cost of sloppy strokeplay, dropped catches and a couple of infuriating umpiring decisions from Steve Dunne.

England's dominance was almost Australian. They bided their time as New Zealand began cautiously, didn't panic when James Foster dropped Mark Richardson, then held two blinders inches above the ground and went on to bat with flair and flourish. Marcus Trescothick and Mark Butcher – two left-handers – could even have been Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer. And all this just 24 hours after they had lost a team-mate and a friend. It was truly heroic.

Andy Caddick even managed to turn it on in the first innings rather than wait for the second, although he may have been thrown by the fact that the game was already into its fourth day. He was accurate, hostile and – in the absence of Darren Gough and Craig White – he was even allowed to hang on to the ball when it started to reverse-swing. His figures of 6 for 59 were his best in the first innings of a Test since taking 7 for 46 against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1999-2000, and only the fifth time he has taken five or more in the first innings in 52 games.

Ashley Giles was outstanding too and has now played a major role in each of the four countries he has toured. In Pakistan he took an English-record 17 wickets. In Sri Lanka his spell of 4 for 11 at Colombo helped win the series. In India he took 5 for 67 as England clawed back some respect at Ahmedabad. And now, on a pitch that responded to his height and tweak, he was the perfect foil to Caddick's parsimony.

New Zealand failed to live up to their captain's promises, which has become a worrying trend in this series. Yesterday evening, Stephen Fleming explained that his side would bat aggressively today, but in the first 16 overs of the morning, when the tone was waiting to be set, they added just 38 runs, 16 of them in a rare loose over from Caddick. Their innings lasted 88.3 overs which was exactly the same as England's, but New Zealand scored at half a run less per over (2.47 to England's 3.16) – odd when they are the side chasing the series.

In the field they were unusually fallible. Adam Parore has quickly become the fourth blunder-prone wicketkeeper used by these sides during the one-day and Test series, after Chris Nevin, Trescothick and Foster. Even Fleming's tactical acumen deserted him. Where, for example, was Chris Martin, who was picked on the strength of his ability to bowl to left-handers, but was given just four overs while Trescothick and Butcher were getting stuck in? As two Santa Clauses basked in the baking sun, England fans must have thought Christmas had come early.

England's lead is now 246, and with tomorrow scheduled to be another day of 105 overs, they have just about enough time to take an unassailable 2-0 lead to Auckland. New Zealand's three innings so far in the series have lasted on average 77 overs, so England could still add 100 tomorrow in 25 overs or so, and then bowl New Zealand out a second time. On current form, you wouldn't bet against it.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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