ENGLAND are searching for their first Test match win for nine months - and don't we know it. After having much the better of the first three days in Wellington, they knew that a good fourth day would all but clinch the game, level the series and - they hope - open up a brighter era.

In the end, they would have been satisfied with their work but, good grief, they made heavy going of it. Knowing how much was at stake, they were tense with the significance of the whole thing.

Just as England batted cautiously, almost crabbily, on Saturday, so they now bowled and fielded with a distracted air. Their minds weren't quite on the job, or perhaps were on the job too much. Each of them wanted to do everything they could to ensure the result they wanted, and thereby placed it in jeopardy.

Setting New Zealand 438 to win on any pitch ought to have eased their nerves, but on a pitch with enough in it for the bowlers as this one, they really should have had nothing to worry about. No team in history has scored so many to win a Test match.

But in times such as these, when self-belief is fragile, English cricket has a habit of doing things the hard way. Back in 2000, when the team were on the cusp of emerging from the Dark Ages under Nasser Hussain, England's breakthrough match came at Lord's against West Indies. West Indies were in decline but still possessed two great fast bowlers in Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose.

England's fast bowlers battled them into a winning position with a terrific performance but this still left the side needing 188 in the fourth innings. They got home, but it took them nearly an entire day to inch there, and lost eight wickets in the process.

Then there was the 2005 Ashes. That was a series famous for its outcome but its signature tune was the shredding of English nerves. For four games in succession, Michael Vaughan and his men manouevred themselves into positions of strength, only to turn into emotional wrecks on the fourth and fifth days. There was simply too much at stake.

And so it was here. To get things off to a nicely jittery start, James Anderson had turned his ankle after the third day's play and it was unclear what part he would be able to play. In the event, he got through 13 overs but was not the same force. It was crucial England made inroads with the new ball but they were restricted to one wicket from Ryan Sidebottom.

After that England edged forward nervously: two steps forward, one back. The fielding was horribly flawed. Most of the batsmen were afforded at least one chance. Tim Ambrose made his first fluffs as England keeper, missing a difficult catch and an easier stumping.

Paul Collingwood, normally excellent with his hands, spilled a regulation catch. Kevin Pietersen put down a skier off Monty Panesar that would sit happily in the second edition of Monty's Cricketing Madness. Panesar was hardly in a position to get angry, having let more things through his legs in this game than a Scottish goalkeeper. Runs were leaked through wild throws.

There was a bad 90 minutes during which Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum threatened to turn the game round. Vaughan left the field with a tight hamstring. Stuart Broad starting swapping words with McCullum.

The tension was palpable. Then Vaughan returned and gambled all on one over with the new ball. Oram fell. England are nearly home.