Strauss and the England top order played in circumspect fashion

Batsman Andrew Strauss said England would have to scrap for runs after closing day two of the second Test 229 runs behind New Zealand on 152-4.

"They bowled with a lot of discipline and made it hard for us to score," said the opener, who top-scored with 60.

"Ross Taylor played exceptionally well, he's dangerous, he took the game to us and put us behind the eight ball.

"The wicket's not as quick as some here in the past, there is a little bit of turn but it's not impossible to score."

Strauss conceded that his patient knock should have resulted in his 12th Test century and said: "To get through to 60 you've kind of done the hard work and you want to go on and get a hundred.

"It was a tough day at the office, hopefully we'll come back but we're going to have to fight really hard to get past them.

"You've still got to look to be positive, to run hard, but Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen generally look to be positive anyway.

"Sometimes you have to take your medicine and say 'well bowled' just make sure you don't get out and hope scoring will be easier at the other end.

"It's not a massive total but we want to get past and from 140-odd for four we've got a lot of work to do, but if we fight hard we can get ourselves in a good position.

New Zealand centurion Taylor admitted that his sparkling 154 marked a welcome return to form.

The 24-year-old, who made 19 and 20 in the first Test at Lord's, said: "I haven't played as well as I'd have liked but I've been working very hard.

Looking ahead he said: "I think it's still a pretty good wicket to bat on but on days four and five it will start to get a lot tougher."