England coach Peter Moores was full of praise for Tim Ambrose's face-saving knock after England closed day one of the second Test against New Zealand with the upper hand.

It was beginning to look a familiar tale for the tourists after they slumped from 79 without loss to to 136 for five after losing the toss in Wellington.

But 25-year-old wicketkeeper Ambrose (97 not out), playing only his second Test match, led the fightback as England, forging an unbeaten 155-run stand with one-day captain Paul Collingwood (48) as England ended the day on a healthy 291 for five.

"He played really nice, really nice," Moores said of Ambrose's innings.

"He's always been a strong cutter.

"What was nice today was that he's worked very hard at getting into the ball."

He added of Ambrose and Collingwood's defiant stand: "Partnerships as always have been keys to games of cricket because they take the momentum away from the opposition.

"They've done that in that last session and put us in a very strong position."

Moores was delighted with England's recovery after yet another batting collapse.

"After halfway through the afternoon session when we were under pressure and they bowled well, to come out with that still five down on a wicket which has done a bit all day as well is a pretty good position," he told Sky Sports.

Meanwhile, Ambrose said he "got a bit too excited" in trying to complete his hundred before stumps.

Ambrose looked certain to complete an eventful opening day by reaching his first century at this level but was unable to claim the boundary required in the final over and played out a maiden to all-rounder Jacob Oram.

It left him just short of the milestone and Ambrose revealed: "I wanted to get myself in the right frame of mind for the last over.

"I wanted to get the hundred, not just for myself but for the crowd, who had been brilliant for the whole of the last session - I really wanted to finish the day off on a high.

"I thought I might get one ball in the over that was short and wide and I could get my hands on it. He did give me one, but I'm afraid I got a bit too excited and tried to hit the ball a little bit too hard."

The hosts were left kicking themselves having been in the asendancy during the afternoon session.

"It was a funny day that seemed to work in thirds," conceded Oram, who finished with impressive figures of 22-10-25-2.

"They dominated the first session, we had the second session and the last one was all theirs. They played positively, they took the game to us and maybe we just didn't handle the pressure they were putting on us.

"If you put a side in on day one then you try and bowl them out as soon as you can. At 291 for five, maybe you've got to question if we'd be happy with that.

"I still think in that middle session, when they were 130-odd for five, we were right on course to bowl them out early and they just got away in the final session."

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