Six wickets from Steven Finn helped get England back into the third Test against New Zealand, but the paceman says wicketkeeper Matt Prior deserves just as much praise.

Finn’s wickets and five catches from Prior helped England bowl New Zealand out on day two of the Eden Park Test for 443, a good effort after New Zealand began the day at 1-250.

New Zealand ended Saturday on top after two late wickets to Trent Boult left England 2-50 at stumps.

Finn took the only wicket on day one, dismissed Peter Fulton in the first session of day two and then took the final four wickets after tea.

Prior’s five catches included beauties off Fulton – a diving effort down the leg side – and McCullum, caught off a big edge while standing up to medium pacer Jonathan Trott.

“It’s nice to know that he can leap like a salmon down the leg side and catch a couple of those ones… he’s up there with the best wicketkeeper-batsmen in the world, if not the best,” Finn said.

“It is great to have him to feed off because he is so energetic between the overs making sure that we’re formulating plans and bowling to plans. He is integral to us as a team.”

Finn said England had persisted well on Friday and were rewarded for their efforts on Saturday, taking nine New Zealand wickets for less than 200 runs.

“We needed to go out there and stick to our guns … and thankfully we had some fortune today which was good for me and us as a team.”

Kane Williamson fell early on day two for New Zealand, nine short of his fourth Test century, and none of his teammates were able to score heavily afterwards.

Dean Brownlie, Brendon McCullum and Tim Southee all made scores above 30 but none made it to 50.

But New Zealand will still go into the third day on top and will feel positive after the swing Boult was able to extract and the spin of Bruce Martin.

“If we can get the ball swinging there is a little bit of bounce there and if you hit the wicket you’ll get as much as you can out of it,” Williamson said.

“Bruce bowled really well towards the end this evening so hopefully he plays a big part too.”