England broke the habit of a lifetime, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat against New Zealand with Alex Tudor, the young Surrey fast bowler miscast in the role of nightwatchman, scoring a remarkable 99 not out to propel them to an extraordinary seven wicket win, in a game which at the end of the previous night had seemingly slipped beyond their grasp.

After the mayhem of the previous two days, where thirty one wickets had fallen the big question preceding the third morning of a remarkable first Test was not so much whether the English batsman could chase a total of over 200, but rather, how long could they survive in conditions which were marginally more capricious than a bucket of scorpions?

The overnight break was a testing time for followers of the English game and good odds were offered for a generous number of wickets in the first session with most of the debate centring on whether the match would even last until lunch time. Yet conditions at Edgbaston on Saturday morning offered more than a faint glimmer of hope for the home side. Heavy thunderstorms had lashed the southern part of the country, banishing the oppressive humidity which had lent assistance to bowlers throughout the match.

Hazy early morning sunshine bathed the ground as Geoff Allott and Simon Doull took the new ball which had scarcely had more than a lick of varnish knocked off it, but it soon became apparent that while there was still sideways movement and occasional bounce, the extravagant swing had all but disappeared, transforming the strip into a comparatively benign track.

Mark Butcher and Tudor had evidently plotted their own version of the great escape and came out determined to bat positively. Butcher set off at a canter finding the boundary with regularity, but it was Tudor who soon grabbed all the attention, following on from his robust first innings partnership with Andy Caddick, which had kept England's hopes in the game alive. Initially cautious, Tudor played a watchful role but buoyed by a positive start, he was soon peppering the off side boundary with searing drives through cover and backward point. Gaining in confidence, Tudor displayed composure beyond his years as he rapidly overtook Butcher in an innings full of power and elegance and seemingly unable to progress in anything but boundaries, his fifty came from just 63 balls and included 11 fours.

England suffered their first setback when Butcher edged Nash through to Parore, but Tudor continued in sublime form in partnership with skipper Nasser Hussain and even though he occasionally rode his luck in the afternoon, playing and missing, or finding a leading edge, his strokes on both sides of the wicket were full of power and authority. Hussain eventually departed to a searing yorker from Geoff Allott but as the home team closed in their target, there was time for a final piece of drama as Tudor neared his own landmark. With the crowd urging him on with chants of ``Tudor ...Tudor'', England for once had the luxury of trying to fiddle a century for the Surrey man, but requiring a six to finish, after stroking 21 fours, he top edged over the Kiwi keeper to post the winning runs and finish just one agonising run short of his own ton. England had won, Tudor had achieved the highest ever score for a nightwatchman (beating Harold Larwood's 98*) and England had found their newest and most unlikely batting hero yet.