Vaughan scored 61 off just 65 balls in the middle of the day

Chris Cairns grabbed three top wickets in his final Test to reduce England to 225-5 on day two at Trent Bridge.

That score was in reply to a Kiwi total of 384, a moderate effort given their overnight score of 294-4.

Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff all hit bright half-centuries but never looked totally set.

In the New Zealand innings, Scott Styris had scored 108 while Steve Harmison took 3-80 and Matthew Hoggard collected his 100th Test wicket.

New Zealand began the day with their captain Stephen Fleming having stated he wanted at least 500.

But the cloud cover overhead encouraged England's battery of seamers, and Martin Saggers got enough movement out of a leg-side delivery to persuade Jacob Oram, on 14, to loft a simple catch to midwicket.

Cairns was determined to impose himself but he struggled to break free against Steve Harmison and decided Saggers was the man to attack.

Having reached 12, he played a big slog on the up which he could only sky to extra cover for Graham Thorpe to accept the chance.

Eventually Styris, too, would depart to an ambitiously aggressive shot.

James Franklin found good swing in his first Test in England

Some 35 runs had been added from the Cairns dismissal when Ashley Giles caught a leading edge off Styris's bat and then the tail folded to Hoggard and Harmison shortly after lunch.

England's reply got off to a poor start. Andrew Strauss was dismissed for a three-ball duck when feathering an edge behind off Cairns.

Mark Butcher, batting with a fractured little finger sustained in the field, drove loosely at James Franklin and was held at second slip to leave the score 18-2.

Vaughan and Trescothick, however, settled into a partnership of 110 either side of tea featuring some divine drives from both players.

England skipper Vaughan added an effortless pull off Franklin for six to reach his fifty off just 49 balls.

Not long afterwards the Cairns slow off-break trapped him lbw for 61 and Trescothick followed for 63 when driving Franklin to gully.

This is a better pitch than Headingly, England can get a lead with Jones and Giles still to come From Robert Have your say on TMS

It then needed Fintoff and Graham Thorpe to knuckle down, and this they did with Flintoff cracking a string of boundaries, mainly with drives, though also with some deft cut shots.

Their partnership was worth 81 before Cairns beat Flintoff for pace to remove the Lancastrian all-rounder lbw for 54.

Injuries had further decimated the Kiwis' bowling reserves.

Kyle Mills is not expected to take any further part due to a side strain while Chris Martin did not re-appear after hamstring trouble in only his second over.