England need 263 runs to win the series after defeating New Zealand in the second Test and reaching 36-1 at lunch on a dramatic final day at Trent Bridge.
Jack Crawley fell for a duck at the start of England’s bid to chase down 299.
But Alex Lees’ 30 not out kept England on the hunt, while first-innings century-scorer Ollie Pope was unbeaten on six.
In-form Daryl Mitchell scored an unbeaten 62 earlier as New Zealand were bowled out for 284 after restarting at 224-7.
England vs New Zealand match live scorecard
Mitchell scored 32 runs overnight and Trent Boult put on a 35-run partnership for the last wicket to balance the match.
All four results still have at least 63 overs left, but a win for Ben Stokes’s team requires the highest successful Test run chase at Trent Bridge.
The current record is England’s 284-6 against New Zealand in 2004.
Test world champions New Zealand are well aware that England have already scored the 277 runs needed to beat them in the final innings of the first Test at Lord’s.
England will need to score more than four overs to win, although New Zealand will be without the services of injured pacer Kyle Jamieson.
The home team is aiming for a first Test series win since January 2021 as Stokes and new coach Brendon McCullum look to begin their reign in style after a disappointing period for the national team.
A dramatic collapse in the evening session on the fourth day had left New Zealand with an uncertain lead of 238, giving England the unexpected hope of a memorable breakthrough.
England’s Ben Foakes claimed that an aggregate of less than 300 would be a realistic score to chase, while New Zealand’s Devon Conway was confident that his team would win if they took a lead of 280.
Both teams will still believe that victory is in their hands with two seasons remaining.
England vs New Zealand: Too much at stake for England in second Test – Nasser Hussain
– Decisive battle –
England looked heavily underdog when New Zealand scored 553 in their first innings, but their impressive fight had convinced fans to take advantage of the free entry to create an enthusiastic crowd.
Matt Henry responded to raucous fans by punching Stokes over the boundary, prompting the England captain to send down a dangerous bouncer, which left Henry on the pitch after taking offensive action.
With a smile on his face after that near-miss, Henry quickly hit another boundary, but Stokes again turned to short ball in a decisive fight.
Short dropping proved to be the right strategy as Henry looked to take one of his ribs off Stuart Broad, but could only remove Fox for critical success.
Jamieson died when his attempt to pull Broad took a thin edge and Fox dived to his right to take a fine catch.
Trent Boult became the 11th highest scorer in Test history, surpassing Muttiah Muralitharan’s 623.
Mitchell, who scored a scintillating 190 in the first innings, hit a couple boundaries to reach his half-century.
Boult also hit Stokes a few hard ones, leaving the captain shaking his head in frustration.
In the end, England took the new ball and James Anderson started a thrilling final by dismissing Boult for 17 runs.
Lige followed in scintillating fashion and smacked three of Tim Southee’s first four balls to the boundary.
It was quite a statement of intent, but New Zealand was taken aback.
Boult struck back to remove Crowley in the next over, as the pacer gave Southee a low catch at slips.
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