England's seamers struck in the final session to reduce New Zealand to 9-315 after the hosts had made a strong start to their bid for a consolation victory on the opening day of the third and final cricket Test in Hamilton.

The New Zealand tail wagged hard on Saturday, but the batters higher up the order will be cursing their failure to build the partnerships they needed to capitalise on the platform laid by Tom Latham and Will Young in an opening stand of 105.

Local hero Tim Southee gave the homes fans something to cheer with his 96th, 97th and 98th Test sixes in a 10-ball 23 in the last half-hour, before holing out attempting the 99th in his penultimate Test innings.

Mitchell Santner took New Zealand to stumps with a bright half-century from 54 balls alongside Will O'Rourke, who had yet to score.

The pair will resume on Sunday looking to add a few more runs to the tally.

With the series already lost after heavy defeats in Christchurch and Wellington, New Zealand are desperate to send Southee into retirement a winner in his final Test.

However, England's bowlers stuck to their task and got their rewards on Saturday.

Matthew Potts (3-75) was brought into the team as a like-for-like replacement for Chris Woakes, and he removed Latham for 63 in session two, before sending back Kane Williamson for 44 and Glenn Phillips for five after tea.

Brydon Carse chipped in with the wickets of Rachin Ravindra and Tom Blundell, while Gus Atkinson took 3-55 in another strong performance on a mostly sunny day.

England skipper Ben Stokes showed his fitness by bowling 23 overs, then adding the late wicket of Matt Henry for eight courtesy of a smart juggle and catch by Harry Brook right on the boundary rope.

"Obviously you always want more," said Williamson, who came into the match with an average of 95.53 at Seddon Park.

"(There were) a number of contributions, guys getting in, but you never felt like you had a real rhythm out there. (It's) always tough to sum up until you see a little bit more of how the pitch develops, but nice to have 300-plus on the board."

Stokes won the toss and put New Zealand in to bat, but Latham and Young batted through the first session for the biggest opening partnership of the series.

Young departed caught in the slips on 42 prodding at an Atkinson delivery soon after lunch, and Potts sent back Latham, who had been dropped on 12 and 53, from an edge behind.

New Zealand would have been happy enough heading to tea on 2-172, but Ravindra was dismissed caught at gully from a loose shot for 18 just before the break.

A big total was still possible with Williamson at the crease, but he dragged on attempting to take the ball away from his stumps - the fourth time in five Tests Potts has taken his wicket.

Daryl Mitchell followed shortly afterwards for 14 with a mistimed drive to Stokes at midwicket off Atkinson, and Phillips and Blundell (21) also paid the price for poor shot selection to leave New Zealand reeling at 7-231.