Black Caps veteran Kane Williamson has become the 19th man to score 9000 Test runs, but his team are facing imminent defeat in the first Test against England at Christchurch.

Soon after lunch on day three, New Zealand dismissed their guests for 499, but were off to a shaky start as they looked to erase a 151-run deficit. By the end of the afternoon, they had their noses four runs in front, but with only four wickets to build any kind of defendable target on Sunday.

Openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway were both dismissed early, leaving Williamson and Rachin Ravindra to salvage their hopes of victory to keep their World Test Championship prospects alive.

Latham faced only seven balls before he nicked Chris Woakes into the slips, where England batting star Harry Brook took the catch. Twenty runs later, Conway was the second to fall, caught by Gus Atkinson off the bowling of Brydon Carse.

At tea, the Kiwis were 62/2, still 89 runs adrift, with Williamson unbeaten on 26 and Ravindra 23, but the latter lasted only seven balls beyond the break.

Williamson had led the Black Caps batting effort in the first innings, but fell seven runs short of his 33rd Test century.

In the final over before tea today, he mistimed a pull shot, top-edging into space for a single to bring up his milestone 900th run. Ross Taylor is the next highest NZ runscorer with 7683.

After Ravindra's departure, he combined with Daryl Mitchell for a 69-run fourth-wicket partnership, recording his 37th half-century, before falling for 61, leg before wicket to Woakes. Wicketkeeper Tom Blundell continued his batting struggles, falling for a golden duck, and Glenn Phillips had to survive Woakes' hat-trick ball.

Instead, he fell lbw to Carse for 19, leaving New Zealand 155/6 at stumps. Mitchell remained on 31 not out, with debutant Nathan Smith (one) at the other end.

Earlier, England reached lunch at 459/8 and added another 40 runs in the next six overs, as New Zealand claimed the two remaining wickets.

Captain Ben Stokes (80) was caught by Tim Southee in the outfield, from Matt Henry's bowling, while tailender Shoaib Bashir was the last to go, falling to the same Southee/Henry combination. Bowler Carse was unbeaten on 33 off 24 balls, including three sixes.

New Zealand must sweep the three-test series to challenge for a spot in the world championship final.

NZ 348 & 155/6 (Williamson 61, Mitchell 31no; Woakes 3/39, Carse 3/22) England 499 (Brook 171, Stokes 80, Pope 77; Henry 4/84)

New Zealand lead by four runs after three days