Harry Brook and Joe Root scored centuries in an unbroken 294-run stand to drive England to 315 for three before play was abandoned due to rain on day one of the second test in Wellington on Friday.
Batting sensation Brook was 184 not out from 169 balls, with Root on 101, the Yorkshire pair having steered England from a position of peril at 21 for three in the first hour at the Basin Reserve.
Brook has now scored four centuries in his past five tests, continuing an incredible start in the longest format after dominating Pakistan.
Root joined him with his century with the last ball of the day, charging Neil Wagner and flicking two off his pads before punching the air in triumph.
New Zealand’s bowlers had no answer for the pair after captain Tim Southee won the toss and elected to field first on a grassy wicket.
That decision paid immediate dividends with three wickets falling in the first hour but from there, it was all downhill for the hosts as Brook and Root took over.
They steered England to 101 for three at lunch and batted through the second session to be 237 for three at tea.
When on 31, former England captain Root survived a lbw review by inches, with the technology showing the ball hitting leg stump – yet not enough to over-rule the umpire’s not out decision.
That was about as close as New Zealand got to a breakthrough, with the aggressive Brook appearing impregnable and Root playing a steady support role to the 24-year-old sensation.
Brook attacked any delivery with a hint of looseness, smashing part-time seamer Daryl Mitchell for two sixes over his head in successive balls to race toward his century.
Root reached his 57th fifty in tests by pushing a single off Bracewell, one ball before Brook cut the part-time spinner to the fence for four to bring up his hundred.
The duo hiked the run-rate after the milestones, with Wagner bleeding nearly seven runs an over at once stage, having been badly roughed up in the series-opening defeat at Mount Maunganui.
Though Southee wasted two of New Zealand’s three reviews in the first half-hour, it had been a promising start for the home side.
Matt Henry, back in the team after missing Mount Maunganui for the birth of his first child, had opener Zak Crawley feather an edge to be caught behind for two.
Number three Ollie Pope was out for 10 runs, edging Henry to Bracewell at third slip.
Southee had a driving Ben Duckett out for nine, with Bracewell diving to his left to pull down a spectacular, one-handed catch in the slips.
Unchanged England won the pink-ball opener by 267 runs and are bidding to win their first test series in New Zealand since 2008.
New Zealand dropped rookie quicks Blair Tickner and Scott Kuggeleijn to recall Henry in a three-pronged pace attack, with Will Young included to add more batting firepower.
