BBC Radio Test Match Special

Got a question for ex-England captain and TMS summariser Michael Vaughan?

He'll be doing a Q&A on the BBC Test Match Special Facebook page, external from 14:15 BST. Do post your questions there.

Henry Ellison: This innings is a huge test for Ian Bell who is under pressure for his spot in the Ashes. Come on Sherminator. #mentalfortitude

Isaac Arinaitwe: Get yourselves some decent wellies, boys and dig yourselves in to bat two days out!

TM: Never before have strike rates and run rates been so intriguing in a Test match. This NZ team make things happen!

New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan is not perhaps as hardy as you might expect from a Kiwi - he's wrapped up like a man on a polar expedition in the stands. Cook forces Boult through the gully for two.

The batting surface still looks good, and Adam Lyth, who knows it better than most, capitalises with a sweet cover drive for four. Southee responds with a ripper, pushed across Lyth and drawing him forward into a play and miss.

Image source, Getty Images

John in Mansfield: What is significant is the highest ever run chases achieved previously have had wickets in hand at the end. It's also unusual to have this amount of time to knock so many runs. England can do this.

Omar in London: 455 to win off 171 overs. A mere 2.67 runs per over. A doddle surely?

Paul: At the current run rate England will have this wrapped up by the close of play.

Plenty of optimistic England fans out there.

A cloth-capped spectator in the stands munches a sausage roll with a slightly haunted look in his eyes, this morning's carnage indelibly etched into his memory. Once you have seen Stuart Broad hammered for 20 runs in an over by Tim Southee, you cannot unsee it.

Cook dabs Boult behind point for two.

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Samson
BBC Test Match Special statistician

"New Zealand's run-rate of 4.92 is the best for any team who have scored more than 800 runs in a Test, beating the previous record of 4.6 set by Australia against South Africa in Adelaide in 2012.

"Stuart Broad has gone for 6.12 runs per over in this match, which is the second-highest economy rate for a bowler who has bowled more than 30 overs - behind Imran Tahir's 7.02 in that Adelaide Test."

Lyth eases Tim Southee's first ball behind point for four, before Cap'n Cook gets off the mark with a two whipped through square leg. Southee giving the ball plenty of airtime, hoping that full length will bring him some late swing. Movement for the New Zealand bowlers, but movement on the scoreboard too - good, positive start from England.

Sam in Pamplona, Spain: Is looking back at run chase records really that useful now? With teams like New Zealand scoring at four or five an over and getting out after 70 or 80 overs, it leaves a lot more time in the match for their opposition to find 400 runs in the final innings. England could have five sessions of batting, plus pitches don´t seem to deteriorate like they have in the past. If they can finally synchronise so that they a few bat well in the same innings and Leeds stays unseasonably dry, maybe it´s just possible...

Lyth is off the mark with two off his hips. Are there any good omens? Well, one of our eagle-eyed readers has pointed out that the last time the fourth-innings chase world record was broken, in Antigua in 2003, both teams also made exactly the same score in the first innings. It's on...

We're ready to go again. Trent Boult to bowl to Adam Lyth...

Image source, Getty Images

Here are the highest successful fourth-innings run chases in Test history:

• 418-7 - West Indies v Australia, Antigua, 2003 (NB both teams scored the same in the first innings - 240)

• 414-4 - South Africa v Australia, Perth, 2008

• 406-4 - India v West Indies, Trinidad, 1976

• 404-3 - Australia v England, Headingley, 1948

• 387-4 - India v England, Chennai, 2008

Adrian Wyatt: Two options England get the runs and a bright new age is declared or we are rolled over and heads are called for. Which? No idea!

paul baldwin: New Zealand rob Stuart Broad of his second ton by declaring - very charitable of them!

Howard Horner: I'm calling this here and now. England will win this by three wickets. Yorkshire boys won't like losing on their home turf!

Well, New Zealand are now so comfortably in the driving seat that they've got mints in the glovebox and Blondie in the CD player.

They ran absolutely rampant this morning, with Mark Craig and Tim Southee adding just what the doctor ordered - copious runs, and in double-quick time.

It was a very well judged third innings by New Zealand, especially after losing two quick wickets at the start - with Guptill and Taylor seizing the initiative, McCullum and Watling throttling back to consolidate their position,, and then the tail-enders making hay at the end.

It all adds up to a very stiff task indeed for England. 455 runs to win this match, nearly two days to save it...

New Zealand 454-8 dec (91 overs) - England need 455 to win

Batsmen: Craig 58*, Henry 12*

Fall of wickets: 15-1 (Latham 3), 23-2 (Williamson 6), 122-3 (Taylor 48), 141-4 (Guptill 70), 262-5 (McCullum 55), 315-6 (Ronchi 31), 368-7 (Watling 120), 435-8 (Southee 40)

Bowling figures: Anderson 23-4-96-2, Broad 16-1-94-2, Wood 19-2-97-3, Stokes 12-1-61-0, Moeen 16-0-73-1, Root 5-0-23-0

New Zealand first innings 350: Ronchi 88, Latham 84; Broad 5-109

England first innings 350: Lyth 107, Cook 75, Broad 46; Southee 4-83

Full scorecard

Image source, Reuters

Andrew Samson
BBC Test Match Special statistician

"Matt Henry is the eighth player in the innings to hit a six, the first time that has happened in a Test match. The previous record was seven, also held by the Kiwis against Pakistan in Sharjah a couple of months ago. South Africa also did it against West Indies in 2010."

Evan Samuel: England will now have to face two new balls, with one first thing tomorrow. Not going to be a comfortable chase.

Rich: I have a feeling we'll be near the bottom of the Test rankings by the year's end... Our only consistency is being embarrassed!

So Matt Henry is the new man, and quite frankly one wonders exactly what New Zealand are waiting for here. Craig bludgeons Broad back over his head for a handsome straight six. Henry casually hammers two more maximums over deep square-leg, before finally Brendon McCullum ends the carnage with a declaration.

Jeremy Coney
Ex-New Zealand captain on BBC Test Match Special

"It is very hard in a cricket match, once you lose control to drag it back. There is no top-quality spinner in either side and they are the ones along the express bowler that create problems for lower-order batsmen."

Tim Southee's eye-watering rampage of an innings is ended when he smacks Moeen straight into the safe hands of Jimmy Anderson at long-on. 40 off 23 balls. Brutal.

Earlier in that over, Craig brought up his third Test fifty with a single into the off side. Control with the ball, safe hands in the slips, and now quick runs with the bat - terrific Test match from the bearded spin all-rounder.