Despite a much-improved performance from Stephen Harmison, England were unable to finish off West Indies yesterday in the face of some determined and tenacious batting. Shivnar-ine Chanderpaul led the resistance with an unbeaten 81 in 4hr 28min as, needing a record 455 to win the third npower Test match at Old Trafford, the touring team finished the fourth day on 301 for five.

Frustrated though they were at taking only four West Indies wickets yesterday, England will be delighted that Harmison - who had Chanderpaul dropped at mid-on by Monty Panesar on 18 - put the nightmare of Friday behind him. His full recovery has a long way to run, but the recruitment of Allan Donald as a fast-bowling consultant looks to have been money well spent by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Before the start of play, Donald spent considerable time with Harmison, getting him to bowl wider on the return crease because he felt that he was bowling too close to the umpire. The advice worked as Harmison stopped falling away and spraying the ball down the leg side. He found some rhythm, made the batsmen play and bowled only one wide.

Liam Plunkett’s direction, however, was little better, one set of five wides from him late on taking the match extras total to 153, second only to the Test record of 173.

Harmison paid tribute to Donald. “Allan’s fitted into the dressing-room very well, along with Andy Flower [the new assistant coach],” he said. “I’ve had a few good chats with Allan, who’s more of a talker than a user of the computer. We’ve talked about a number of things, although I’d rather keep them in-house – some will work, some won’t.

“It could not have gone any worse than it did for me on Friday. The more I was chasing things, the more it was going horribly wrong. I’m still not bowling as well as I’d like to, but at least I’m contributing to the team.

“You are your own best coach and I’ve got to work it out for myself. It’s easy for people to say ‘just relax’, but they are not in that position. It is difficult and you’ve got somehow to get through it.”

Harmison’s morning spell of 8-6-12-1 was almost a throw-back to his halcyon days. “We deserved a lot more than two wickets in the morning, when we bowled well,” he said. “But you’ve got to give credit where credit’s due to the West Indies. There’s a bit in the pitch for everyone.”

The pitch did not deteriorate as much as England had hoped and nor did it offer the amount of turn that Panesar would have liked. The left-arm spinner bowled 32 overs in the day, being denied a series of often close appeals by Alim Dar, who, like Billy Bowden, deserved praise for some outstanding umpiring.

“Things just haven’t gone for us,” Harmison said. “We’re not really under any pressure, but you never know. We’re not going to think of any negatives.”

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