Close England 153 and 257 (Trescothick 68, Ramprakash 42, Walmsley 5-51) drew with Otago 150 for 6 dec (Caddick 4-42) and 124 for 6 (Cumming 57*)
scorecard

A day of 16 wickets and peaks and troughs for both sides finally flattened out into a peaceful draw in the Queenstown evening sunshine. Set 261 to win in 45 overs after England – boosted by a return-to-form 68 from Marcus Trescothick – had been dismissed for 257, Otago lost 6 for 31 halfway through the final session. But their captain Craig Cumming found a sturdy ally in Nathan Morland and the pair survived for over an hour before the players shook hands with three overs to go. Otago call themselves the Volts, but the only shock was that they managed to avoid defeat in a first-class game for the first time this season – at their eighth attempt. The whipping-boys of New Zealand's State Championship had finally found solace against England.

At one point it looked as if Andy Caddick would win the game by himself. Charging in with the breeze from the Coronet Peak End he approached his lethal best during a spell of three wickets in six balls. Rob Lawson (11) edged to Warren Hegg, who took an outstanding goalie-style catch high to his right in front of first slip. Caddick then trapped Chris Gaffaney leg before for a golden duck with the first ball of his next over, and although Simon Beare survived the hat-trick delivery he was soon on his way too, bowled for 0 shouldering arms. With James Ormond sending back Brendon McCullum (19) in between, caught behind by Hegg, Otago had slumped from 30 for 0 to 34 for 4 in the space of 12 balls.

Suddenly England were bouncing around like new-born lambs, and when Craig White removed Craig Pryor, caught and bowled for 10 (57 for 5), and had Duncan Drew caught behind for the ninth duck of the match (61 for 6), there were still more than 21 overs to go. Glenn Turner, who averaged nearly 45 in 41 Tests as opener for New Zealand and is now coach of Otago, sat arms folded in the stand. He had seen it all before.

But Cumming wasn't going, and reached his fifty by depositing a Richard Dawson full-toss over mid-on for four. Morland hung on grimly, clearly riling Caddick who hit on him the helmet for his troubles. Ultimately, though, England ran out of firepower. Andy Flintoff was off the field with a sore knee, and Trescothick was obliged to give Dawson a bowl for the first time in the game. On a seamer's wicket, his seven overs were little more than an extended net.

Earlier, it was England who had been struggling for breath in the mountain air. After Otago had declared on their overnight score of 150 for 6, England lost four of their top seven for ducks, and when Hegg was caught behind, the score was 162 for 8, and the lead a wafer-thin 165. But Dawson and Ormond – one elegant, the other elephant – added a breezy 62 for the ninth wicket, Ormond clumping 38 in 31 balls, and Caddick's rearguard meant that the last two wickets had put on a matchsaving 95.

Those runs made up for another rickety top-order display. Mark Butcher top-edged a pull to the fourth ball of the innings from Kerry Walmsley and was caught by Pryor, running back from the slips (0 for 1). And Graham Thorpe played round a full-length delivery from Walmsley – as he did against Andre Adams at Dunedin – and was bowled, also for 0 (7 for 2).

But Trescothick, in desperate need of runs after making just 91 in seven innings, finally found some form, and Mark Ramprakash played the role of aggressor with relish. Two of Ramprakash's first five scoring shots were sixes – a slash over point off Walmsley and a pick-up over midwicket off the left-armer David Sewell – and he seemed to invigorate Trescothick. In one over from Sewell, Trescothick hit five fours: a flick to fine leg, a controlled cut behind point, a one-bounce hook, another cut, and a meaty cover-drive off a full-toss; only the second ball escaped punishment. And when Ramprakash added two more boundaries, both of them cuts off Pryor, England had added 49 runs in four overs.

Trescothick moved to his first half-century of the tour with a straight-drive for four off Pryor that also brought up England's 100. And when Ramprakash cut Walmsley straight to gully for 42 (106 for 3), Usman Afzaal took up the baton, mowing Morland for two sixes over midwicket. But in the penultimate over before lunch, Sewell got rid of Trescothick, caught at point (139 for 4), and Flintoff, lbw to his fifth ball for 0 (139 for 5). Sewell made it three wickets in 13 balls after the interval when Afzaal mistimed a pull to midwicket to fall for 30 (148 for 6). And when White skewed a drive off Walmsley to point to register England's sixth duck of the game (155 for 7), and Hegg was caught behind for 12 to give Walmsley his fifth wicket (162 for 8), Otago were daring to dream.

But Dawson was dropped behind off Morland on 13, and England pulled away again. It was just as well. Otherwise they would always have remembered the most beautiful ground in the world for all the wrong reasons.

Teams

England 1 Marcus Trescothick (capt), 2 Mark Butcher, 3 Graham Thorpe, 4 Mark Ramprakash, 5 Usman Afzaal, 6 Andrew Flintoff, 7 Craig White, 8 Warren Hegg (wk), 9 Richard Dawson, 10 James Ormond, 11 Andy Caddick.

Otago 1 Rob Lawson, 2 Brendon McCullum, 3 Craig Cumming (capt), 4 Chris Gaffaney, 5 Simon Beare, 6 Craig Pryor, 7 Duncan Drew (wk), 8 Nathan Morland, 9 Kerry Walmsley, 10 David Sewell, 11 James McMillan.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com. You can read his reports here throughout the tour.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd