England v New Zealand: Tourists hold edge in first Test at Lord's

New Zealand hold a slight advantage after an absorbing second day of the first Test on which James Anderson became the fourth England bowler to reach 300 Test wickets.

The hosts lost their last six wickets for 40 runs as they were bundled out for 232, with Tim Southee taking 4-58.

Anderson then brought a packed Lord's crowd to its feet by removing New Zealand openers Hamish Rutherford and Peter Fulton in quick succession to join Sir Ian Botham, Bob Willis and Fred Trueman in the 300 club.

But New Zealand fought back through Ross Taylor, who scored 66 off 72 balls, and Kane Williamson, whose unbeaten 44 steered the tourists to 153-4 at the close - trailing by 79.

"It's in the balance, but I'd say they just have the edge," Anderson told BBC Sport. "We didn't build on yesterday as well as we would have wanted to.

"We started well with the ball but let it slip. They counter-attacked very well and we have a lot of hard work to do to keep us in the game."

Taylor said: "We toiled hard yesterday and got the results this morning. We would have taken this at the start of the day."

Williamson was dropped on 23 by wicketkeeper Matt Prior, who had a day to forget as he also fell for a golden duck in the week he was named England Cricketer of the Year.

With New Zealand's potentially explosive skipper Brendon McCullum also unbeaten at the close, the Black Caps will have high hopes of securing a first-innings lead.

England, meanwhile, will aim to spark a collapse similar to the one they suffered after making a steady start through Yorkshire duo Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow.

Southee began the rout by strangling Root down the leg side for 40 before trappng Prior lbw next ball.

Prior, whose previous Test innings was a match-saving unbeaten 110 in Auckland, sent for a review but an umpire's call meant he had to walk.

Stuart Broad was plumb lbw as he played across the line and Graeme Swann feathered an outswinger from Neil Wagner to wicketkeeper BJ Watling.

Steven Finn missed a straight ball from Southee, who claimed his fourth victim when he held on to a sharp return catch to remove Bairstow.

Anderson, who finished the March series in New Zealand on 298 Test wickets, wasted little time in claiming the two scalps he needed for 300.

Both wickets were vintage Anderson, with Rutherford and Fulton prodding at balls that moved away and edging into the slips.

At 7-2, New Zealand were in danger of implosion, only for Taylor to launch an impressive counter-attack.

Infamously stripped of the captaincy last year, he played with a positivity that contrasted starkly with the cautious approach of England's batsmen, and when he crashed Anderson for successive fours shortly before tea, it was the first time in the match that two boundaries had been scored in the same over.

His partnership with Williamson had reached 93 when it was broken by Anderson, who got the second ball of a new spell to nip back into Taylor's pads.

England's hopes of another swift breakthrough were thwarted by a rare error from Prior, who put down a one-handed chance at a straightforward height to his right.

The partnership was worth 47 when Finn, who was largely wayward on his home ground, speared one through Brownlie's defences to have him lbw for 23, the original not-out call successfully overturned on review.

The wicket could have exposed McCullum to a testing spell before the close, only for bad light to end play 20 minutes early.

Match scorecard

Listen to match highlights and Jonathan Agnew and Geoffrey Boycott's analysis of each day's play on the Test Match Special podcast.