Trent Boult made two vital breakthroughs to give New Zealand the upper hand at the end of two days of the third cricket Test against England at Eden Park.

The Black Caps didn’t score as freely as they wanted on day two, being bowled out for 443 after being 1-250 at the end of the first day.

But left-arm seamer Boult dismissed Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott in the final session to leave England 2-50 at stumps, with Nick Compton on 12 and Ian Bell on six.

Cook departed in the third over of the innings after being caught by wicketkeeper BJ Watling, the third person caught down the leg side after Peter Fulton and Watling suffered the same fate in the New Zealand innings.

Trott was nearly caught and bowled by impressive left-arm spinner Bruce Martin but didn’t last much longer after Boult trapped him lbw with a late inswinger for 27, a video referral proving fruitless for him.

Boult was a little inconsistent at the start but his late swing in his second spell from the southern end troubled Trott and Bell.

New Zealand will also have gained hope from the spin and occasional bounce which Martin was extracting as they head into day three.

England had 25 overs of batting after New Zealand failed to take full advantage of the position they were in at the start of the day, losing nine wickets for less than 200.

Kane Williamson fell nine runs short of his fourth Test century when James Anderson had him caught behind, with no other batsmen able to score heavily.

Dean Brownlie, Brendon McCullum and Tim Southee all reached 30 or more but none made it to 50 as they fell at regular intervals.

Steven Finn equalled his Test-best figures of 6-125 while Matt Prior took five catches, including two very good takes to dismiss Fulton and McCullum.