England's dominance of New Zealand was only halted by rain on day two of the second Test in Wellington.
Three wickets each for James Anderson and Jack Leach reduced the home side to 138-7, 297 runs behind.
England's relentless bowling and sharp catching - bat-pad man Ollie Pope claimed two superb grabs off Leach - had raised the prospect of the tourists being able to enforce the follow-on.
That decision will have to wait for Sunday after rain arrived to wipe out almost two hours of play in the evening session.
England had earlier moved from their overnight 315-3 to 435-8 declared, crashing 120 runs in less than two hours.
Harry Brook was out to the seventh ball he faced for 186, but Joe Root continued on to make 153 not out.
Play on day three will once again begin at the earlier time of 21:30 GMT in order to make up some of the overs lost on the opening two days.
