For some bowlers, a beaten outside edge can induce a strut and a pout, but Matthew Hoggard prefers swing to swagger and today he bowled unfussily and unflinchingly to record the best figures by a seamer in Tests between these two countries. It's been an up-and-down tour for Hoggard but here he scaled new heights – and managed to keep his feet on the ground at the same time. Hoggard's rollercoaster began when he was left out at the start of the one-day series after going for a run a ball in England's first warm-up game at Hamilton, but he got another chance when Andy Caddick proved even more costly in the opening ODI at Christchurch. Hoggard duly picked up six wickets in three games and became the first England player in the series to draw praise from Stephen Fleming after he swung it like a banana at Napier.

Then, another mini-slump: he went for 41 runs in six overs at Dunedin, and was outbowled by a rejuvenated Andy Caddick in the first-class warm-up games. Suddenly everyone was wondering just where the hell England thought they were going to get their wickets from if Caddick blew cold in the Test series.

Hoggard took one look at Christchurch's maudlin skies and provided the perfect response. He had already swung a jaffa into Mark Richardson's pads the previous evening, but it took him seven overs of hard Yorkshire graft to break through this morning when Matthew Horne squeezed one to fourth slip. Hoggard bustles in like a man who cares more for substance than style, but the ball which got rid of Lou Vincent won the award for Peach of the Day and made Vincent look like a gooseberry. Nasser Hussain was so delighted that he gave Hoggard six slips, and when Nathan Astle drove through extra cover, Hoggard hared after it himself. The logic was sound enough: the sooner he got hold of the ball, the sooner he could get another wicket. Sure enough, Hoggard trapped Astle in his next over to claim his first five-for in Tests.

His team-mates call him Shrek because of his cartoon-like grimaces, but for most of the day he wore a sheepish grin, which seemed appropriate for a man who once wanted to be a vet. There was something endearing about him as he trudged time and again – round-shouldered and lumbering – to third man during his marathon 17-over spell either side of lunch. Perhaps it's because he looks less like a squaddie now that he's started to grow his spiky blond hair, and he had plenty of opportunity to show off his new mop, doffing his cap as the Barmy Army greeted him with gestures of "We're not worthy". And when they screamed "Hoggy, Hoggy, Hoggy," Hoggy acknowledged them with the wave of an abashed 10-year-old collecting his certificate for second prize in the school cake-making competition.

Craig McMillan threatened to hold up England's progress, so Hussain turned to Hoggard again. He replaced Caddick after just four overs – one of which was a triple-wicket maiden – and got rid of McMillan and Ian Butler in eight balls. Fred Trueman, who took 7 for 75 on this ground in 1962-63, would have been proud to have treated the tail like that.

Hoggard has now played in consecutive overseas Tests in which the conditions have been even more heavenly than Headingley. At Bangalore he wobbled it around in murky light to take a career-best 4 for 80. Today he found even more consistent swing away from the right-hander to claim another career-best, this time in all first-class cricket. Suddenly everyone was wondering how England would cope if Hoggard blew cold. For the moment, it didn't matter.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd