For much of the first innings the indifference of the second game in Auckland continued as New Zealanders ran ludicrously and sacrificed their wickets and Englishmen bowled inconsistently and fielded with a cocktail of the brilliant and the bizarre.

Then, during the twilight period when the underpowered floodlights mixed into a deep, colourful sunset, the game changed shape, and standard. In the 10th over of England's run chase, Geoff Allott bowled a full toss to Michael Atherton which the batsman did not see and which hit him on the ankle. Atherton jumped in shock, rather as you do when you wade into a cold sea and the waves hit you for the first time, and he shivered, too, at the thought of what might come.

The appalling background gave Atherton the creeps. It was not long before Chris Harris, armed with his crafty slow-medium swingers and cutters, gave the same creeps to the England batting order.

Three of them, Atherton himself, Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain, were bowled by in-swinging yorkers that they could not possibly decipher as Harris bowled slower and slower.

There didn't look much in Harris the sorcerer, but the potion worked for New Zealand, who responded by playing like a team for the remainder of the evening and clawing their way back into the match.

Suddenly, good length and accurate seam bowling bounced, moved and spat like fat out of a fire. Suddenly, batsmen cracked halfvolleys near to well-positioned fieldsmen, who made stunning diving stops. Suddenly, the New Zealand team justified the full house at McLean Park.

Harris, who was once the scourge of the Lancashire League - he did the double for Ramsbottom, 1,231 runs and 112 wickets, only the fourth player in history to do so - finished with three for 20 in his 10 overs.

This performance put the cap on a season in which he has made his career-best score for Canterbury, 251 a month ago, and recorded his best bowling figures, four for 22, a week later. Hmmm, they murmured around the ground, we could have done with Harris in the Tests.

Thankfully, coming at it from England's angle, Graham Thorpe was equal to everything Harris drifted at him. Through clever placement, dynamic running between the wickets, the odd boundary and one flicked six over square leg, the Surrey left-hander kept his country in the game and set up Dominic Cork and Craig White for their final fling.