England fought tooth and nail for every last scrap of success with the ball to give themselves a great chance of a grandstand finish on day five.
Bat might have dominated ball for vast swathes of this game, but pressure does funny things to people and for New Zealand it might just have made them crack. The pitch is still good for batting which is why they knew they needed to turn their slender 14 run first innings lead into something much more substantial.
But the way they went about it - with two run outs so far in their second innings - showed just how nerve-wracking the tension can get once a five day game reaches the business end. At 224-7 and a lead of 238, there is already a target that will take some chasing whenever England get the chance to strap the pads on.
