In-form Harry Brook produced a steadying half-century to push England to 101/3 at lunch on day one of the second test in Wellington on Friday, after the Blackcaps quicks blew through the top order in the first hour.
Brook was 51 not out from 52 balls, with Root 23 not out at the Basin Reserve, after NZ captain Tim Southee won the toss and elected to field on a grassy pitch.
New father Matt Henry celebrated his return to the side by taking two wickets, with Southee chipping in the third after wasting two of New Zealand's three reviews in the first half-hour.
The first review for caught behind came in Henry's first over when Ben Duckett played and missed.
Henry shrugged off the setback in his second over by having Zak Crawley feather an edge to wicketkeeper Tom Blundell to be out for two.
The under-pressure Crawley has managed only 34 runs in his three innings on the tour and is without a half-century in his last seven innings.
An aggressive Ollie Pope raced to 10 runs and danced down the wicket to smash Henry through the covers for four.
He was out next ball as Henry found the right length and induced a thick edge that Michael Bracewell caught at third slip.
Henry's first ball at Joe Root rapped the new batsman on the pads and Southee again blew a review trying to remove him lbw.
Four balls later, Southee compensated by dismissing a driving Ben Duckett for nine, with Bracewell diving to his left to pull down a spectacular, one-handed catch in the slips.
The wicket left England 21 for three, but Brook counter-attacked superbly to take his team out of a position of peril with an 80-run partnership with Root.
New Zealand recalled Will Young as an extra batsman and opted for a three-pronged pace attack against an unchanged England as the hosts try to level the two-test series.
Rookie quicks Blair Tickner and Scott Kuggeleijn were dropped as Henry came back in to the side after missing the first test at Mount Maunganui for the birth of his first child.
Ben Stokes's England won the pink-ball opener by 267 runs and are bidding to win their first test series in New Zealand since 2008.
Reuters.
