New Zealand seized the upper hand in the second test after extending their first innings to 391 on Thursday before working through England's top order to leave the hosts on 222-6 at stumps on the second day at The Oval.
Glenn Phillips helped himself to his first test century before lunch as England's ragged bowling allowed New Zealand to add 100 vital runs to their overnight 291-7.
In reply, Ben Duckett was run out after a rapid 36 and fellow opener Emilio Gay made a half century but New Zealand pace bowler Matt Henry trapped both England dangermen Joe Root and Harry Brook lbw to leave the hosts reeling.
Debutants James Rew and Jordan Cox steadied the ship but Rew became Will O'Rourke's second victim just before the close to make it emphatically New Zealand's day.
England will return on Friday still 169 runs behind with just the tailenders to come and facing a big deficit.
Phillips, who withstood a ferocious spell of bowling by Jofra Archer the previous night, said his milestone moment came the day before the anniversary of his dad's passing.
"That made it pretty special," he said. "That was one for him. The bowlers did a fantastic job today. They brought it back really well, especially after tea.
"We need to keep England out in the dirt as long as possible (in our second innings) but we have four wickets to take first."
New Zealand, trailing 1-0 in the three-match series after a chaotic defeat at Lord's, began the day still some way off posting a healthy first-innings total on a good pitch.
They were helped, though, by some mystifying bowling as England's non-stop barrage of bouncers backfired.
Phillips, 49 not out overnight, needed no second invitation to tuck in as England completely lost control with the new ball being wasted. He shared an 87-run partnership with Kyle Jamieson who made 41 having been reprieved on 15 when Duckett dropped a simple catch on the boundary.
Jamieson was eventually bowled by part-time spinner Jacob Bethell who ended with figures of three for 26.
Archer was surprisingly held back in the morning despite England's toil although he finally appeared and removed Matt Henry before Phillips was last man out, caught at deep mid-wicket after a heave at Matthew Fisher.
Duckett looked dangerous and accelerated to 36 from 25 balls but was run out as Gay called for a single that was never on and Nathan Smith swooped to throw down the stumps.
Disciplined attack
New Zealand's disciplined pace quartet plugged away and Smith had Bethell caught behind by Tom Blundell.
Gay ground out his second half century, following his debut knock at Lord's, from 112 balls, the slowest 50 by an England player since Brendon McCullum became head coach and Ben Stokes captain in 2022 -- the so-called Bazball era.
He was out for 53 as he turned his head away from a rising delivery by O'Rourke but failed to lower his bat and was given out, caught behind, after a review.
Root, leading the test side for a record-extending 65th time after Stokes was left out following an investigation into a nightclub incident after the first test, looked serene but fell four short of his half century as Henry jagged one back.
Two more runs would have taken Root to 14,000 test runs.
Brook carved one remarkable back-foot six off O'Rourke but with wicket keeper Blundell standing up, he was trapped in his crease as Henry again found some movement.
Rew made a confident 24 before attempting to hook O'Rourke for six but only gloving a looping catch to Daryl Mitchell.
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