James Anderson's five wicket return to the Test team, in all the circumstances a triumph for himself and the selectors, has set up the prospect of an England victory and an enticing third Test decider at Napier next week. Hard, bouncy pitches like this one at the Basin reserve not only guarantee exciting Test cricket; these days they usually produce England victories too, especially when the ball swings into the bargain, as it did in the southerly breezes of a second day of vibrant cricket.

Anderson's figures were damaged for a while by Brendon McCullum, his dashing tormentor in the one-day games earlier in the tour. But by then, with some irresistible fast outswingers with the new ball, he had justified the decision to drop both Matthew Hoggard and Stephen Harmison. That is not to say that both might not thoroughly have enjoyed the conditions or that either of them might not also have taken five wickets. To some extent that is the luck of the game and the fact is that neither deserved to keep his place after his performance at Hamilton.

Stuart Broad, presumably Harmison's like-for-like replacement, bowled better than his figures suggest. He took the crucial wicket of McCullum after he had started a potentially dangerous counter-attack and should have had Ross Taylor taken by Collingwood, who seemed not to sight an edge just below knee height against the background of a hill packed tightly with spectators in line with mount Victoria.

Naturally, England must first finish a job they have started well. For one shoddy period just before tea they were in danger of dissipating their advantage as much the easier of the two slip chances to Collingwood fell painfully off his left knee. In the same half hour Kevin Pietersen let a ball through his hands and Monty Panesar produced a series of comical blunders in the field that might have been tragi-comical in a closer match. These reservations apart, England took the chance offered by a ball still swinging and zipping about off the pitch to reveal the holes in techniques that needed to be watertight.

Even when they were, luck was needed to survive and prosper. Taylor, getting well onto the front foot and offering a solid, usually straight bat, played the best innings of a day that had started with England losing their last five wickets for 51 to the second new ball. Tim Ambrose had time only to complete his maiden Test hundred with a slice in the air to third man and Collingwood was trapped on the crease by Mark Gillespie after a shrewd and dutiful innings that confirmed him as a valuable and flexible batsman to have in the middle of the order.

Anderson said at the end of the day that he hoped this would be the start of a genuine run in the team. "It's down to me now. I've got the chance and hopefully I can get some consistency going. My game in Auckland on a flat wicket last weekend definitely helped. You can't beat match practice."

There is a revelation! What also helped Anderson who, like Harmison perhaps has a frail self-esteem, was the fact that he had suddenly become the most experienced member of the attack and that he therefore shared the new ball with Ryan Sidebottom, who bowled with admirable discipline himself once again. If Anderson can find the consistency of length and direction that he has hitherto found so elusive they could become a formidable new ball pairing for England for some time, with Broad, Andrew Flintoff and Panesar as the other main bowlers.

In the end it was actually Collingwood who produced a career-best bowling performance on paper, taking the last three wickets, but the damage to New Zealand had been done by then. Anderson hit Matthew Bell's off stump with a late outswinger of full length in his first over, had Jamie How caught at first slip, driving, in his sixth and after lunch quickly added Mathew Sinclair to a thin outside edge. Stephen Fleming found a way of surviving and picking up runs for 36 overs until he unaccountably cut an unexceptional ball to cover before Sidebottom had an uncertain looking Jacob Oram plumb leg before.

The danger in New Zealand's batting lurks just below the middle and McCullum and the admirable Daniel Vettori duly counter-attacked effectively. Vettori ended on 50 not out, slicing a six over third-man to keep the entertainment sparkling to the end of the innings.

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