Andrew Strauss warned England to prepare for a war of attrition after New Zealand snatched the upper hand on the second day of the second Test.

Strauss made 60 but Michael Vaughan's side struggled to reach 152 for four from 59 overs against an disciplined Kiwi attack on a slower than normal Old Trafford wicket.

Vaughan made just 30 off 132 balls before becoming one of two late-in-the-day victims for New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori.

England are still 229 in arrears after a superb 154 not out from Ross Taylor helped the tourists reach 381.

"It was one of those afternoons where it was hard work to score at times," Strauss said.

"The New Zealand bowlers were very accurate so to get to 60 and then not go on is doubly disappointing after all the hard work. You have to take it on the chin and move on. We have got a lot of work to do tomorrow and it is going to be a good test of our character to see if we can do that.

"The wicket is a lot slower than Old Trafford wickets we have played on in the past. It wasn't doing a huge amount for the seamers but it was slightly attritional.

"Myself and Michael Vaughan were trying to be positive but we just couldn't manage it. You assess the conditions and the way the bowlers are bowling and at times there weren't many scoring shot options.

"The ball was quite soft and it was hard to get away. There are no massive demons in the pitch. There is a bit of turn and we are going to have to contend with Vettori tomorrow.

"It is a case of us knuckling down and applying ourselves and there is still a lot of time left in the game. It is going to be quite attritional, hard work and we are going to have fight hard. It is not all doom and gloom in our camp but we recognise we have got a fight on our hands.

"There is a lot of time left in this game and we have got to work to get the ascendancy again. We are a little bit behind at the moment and there is a lot of hard work left for us and it is going to be a good test to see if we can do that."

Strauss continued: "Will we now look for a draw? You should not say that after two days. We have got some great batsmen at the wicket (Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen) and Paul Collingwood to come.

"If we can get pass them, we might be able to put them under pressure but that is a long way off at this stage. Our immediate focus has got to be getting up to their score and making sure they don't have a first innings lead."

Strauss refused to blame the England attack for allowing Taylor to bludgeon them to all parts of the ground.

He said: "Sometimes you've got to give credit to the opposition and Ross Taylor does not allow bowlers to settle.

"As a bowler you feel you have a chance against players who play like that - but if they get in and on top it is hard to stem the flow of runs."

Taylor, who scored his maiden Test 100 against England at Hamilton in March, claimed this was the better of the two innings.

He said: "I just went out there to play straight. That's the gameplan I take out there. If they bowl in other areas then, if I have a base plan of playing straight, then my natural instincts will take over.

"I think I've batted better in this game than when I got the hundred in the winter to be honest. I'm fairly happy. I worked hard during the last couple of days and that maybe made me feel a lot more relaxed out there."

England subjected the Black Caps batsmen to a flurry of short-pitched deliveries but were unable to prevent them scoring at four an over.

Taylor added: "I wasn't surprised at the bouncers England bowled. Not at all. The deck is very hard and probably a little bit variable with those cracks from the end James Anderson was bowling. I'm sure in the second innings they'll do the same thing.

"I think England came out and attacked with their bowling and set attacking fields. When we came out to bowl, the carry wasn't as much, maybe because of the roller they put on the pitch.

"I think we can frustrate them but, having said that, I'm pretty confident we can bowl them out.

"Dan (Vettori) is showing some promise and turning the ball from outside the footmarks. That's an encouraging sign but we need to bowl well again tomorrow morning and put a lot of pressure on England.

"The last two wickets we got tilted the match balance in our favour a little bit."