Trescothick was dismissed by a rogue delivery which barely bounced

Marcus Trescothick hit an impressive 132 as England posted 248-4 in reply to New Zealand's 409 all out on day three of the second Test at Headingley.

He put on 153 for the first wicket with Andrew Strauss, who scored 63.

New Zealand hit back late in the day as Scott Styris claimed a couple of wickets, including Trescothick's, before bad light ended play.

Earlier Matthew Hoggard had struck twice as New Zealand lost their final three wickets for no runs.

Hoggard ended with 2-93 but England's star bowler was once again Steve Harmison, who collected 4-74.

The lanky Durham paceman had the dangerous Chris Cairns caught at point in the second over of the day.

Brendon McCullum and Vettori then put on 54 for the eighth wicket, but once McCullum was bowled by Hoggard the New Zealand tail end collapsed like a house of cards.

Hoggard wrapped up the New Zealand innings in quick fashion

New Zealand's total easily exceeded their previous best at Headingley of 377 but England were not daunted when they replied as Trescothick and Strauss combined for their second century partnership in two games.

They had the odd lucky moment, with Trescothick fortunate to survive a run out chance when he was 16.

The Somerset opener would have been well short of his ground but substitute fielder Kyle Mills - on for Michael Papps, who has a suspected fractured finger - failed to hit the stumps.

Strauss survived a sustained appeal for caught behind off Scott Styris - TV replays suggested he had nicked it - and he also edged spinner Daniel Vettori past McCullum.

But the keeper did not lay a glove on the ball and to add insult to injury it went for four.

When Strauss finally fell, top-edging a sweep to mid-wicket to give Vettori his revenge, the 153-run opening stand was just 15 short of England's best at Headingley, put on Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook in 1948.

Mark Butcher never looked at ease and was soon trapped lbw by Vettori but Trescothick was unmoved at the other end.

I got a bit of luck, played and missed a few times, but it was a good day England centurion Marcus Trescothick More England reaction

He played some typically clumping drives but reached his first century against New Zealand, and sixth overall, with a single.

Captain Michael Vaughan's first innings as a father was an untypically attritional affair and he had grafted his way to 13 off 40 deliveries when Styris found enough swing to force an edge.

However, Trescothick was in fabulous touch and, after a brief break due to bad light, he drilled Cairns' first delivery after the resumption straight back past the bowler for four.

It took a huge stroke of luck for New Zealand to finally dismiss Trescothick, with an innocuous delivery from Styris barely bouncing and cannoning off the bottom of the opener's bat and onto the stumps.

The Somerset player faced 206 balls and hit 19 fours in his 132.

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Soon after his dismissal the umpires again offered the batsmen the light and Andrew Flintoff and Graham Thorpe glady accepted, bringing play to a close with 18 overs of the day's allocation still be to be bowled.

The first two-and-a-half sessions of the day had been very much England's but Styris' late intervention swung it back towards the tourists.

The draw remains the most likely result, but New Zealand will feel they are still in with a chance of forcing victory.

England: M E Trescothick, A J Strauss, M A Butcher M P Vaughan (Capt), G P Thorpe, A Flintoff, G O Jones, A F Giles, M J Hoggard, M J Saggers, S J Harmison.

New Zealand: M H W Papps, M H Richardson, S P Fleming (Capt) N J Astle, S B Styris, C S Martin, J D P Oram, C L Cairns B B McCullum, D L Vettori, D R Tuffey.

Umpires: S A Bucknor, S J A Taufel.