The comeback is almost complete. Monty Panesar and Stuart Broad, bit-part bowlers for much of this series in New Zealand, today took England to the brink of victory.

Left-arm spinner Panesar chipped away when the Kiwis were making a good job of frustrating Michael Vaughan's men, picking up the wickets of Jamie How, Matthew Bell and farewell star Stephen Fleming, while conceding only 49 runs from 31 finely controlled overs.

Then Broad, all bustle and aggression, bounced out both Mathew Sinclair and Grant Elliot, extracting life from a pitch which is now as flat as everyone thought it would be a week ago.

England will go into the final day of the Third Test needing five more wickets to take the series 2-1. With no rain forecast, the chances of New Zealand batting out another 90 overs for a draw, let alone reaching their victory target of 553, are slim.

The hosts finished day four on 222 for five and would have been virtually out, as well as down, if Kevin Pietersen had clung on to a two-handed catch when Brendon McCullum found him at gully in the final over.

That error should not matter too much, though, after a day which saw Panesar advance his series tally from five wickets to eight and also allowed Broad to become England's main paceman once Ryan Sidebottom finally showed signs of fatigue at the end of what has been an arduous winter for the Nottinghamshire left-armer.

With this surface now at its flattest, Vaughan was always going to bat into the fourth morning. The only questions were for how long and whether Andrew Strauss would be able to turn his place-saving century into a double hundred.

In fact, the Middlesex man added only four more runs to his overnight 173 before hoisting Jeetan Patel to wide mid-off. And, three balls later, Tim Ambrose ballooned a return catch to Daniel Vettori.

With Broad swinging merrily, however, England found the bit of acceleration they wanted. The young left-hander's driven six off Patel proved to be the last bit of icing Vaughan wanted on his cake, the captain declaring on 467 for seven after 35 minutes yielded 51 runs.

The Kiwis needed a solid start to give themselves any hope of making a fight of it. And, for just about the first time in the series, they were given one.

An opening stand of 48 is hardly the stuff of dreams but, given how Bell's confidence had crumbled in recent weeks, it represented significant riches.

Four times in an over Anderson invited the 31-year old to rock back and force through the off side, and four times the opener obliged.

With Sidebottom for once unable to provide inspiration it was left to Broad and Panesar to pose occasional problems and the latter dismissed How during the second over after lunch.

England were delighted but gathered themselves in good time, however, to form a guard of honour for Fleming as he walked to the middle for his 189th and final Test innings before retirement.

Broad proved less welcoming with a ball in his hand, unsettling Fleming with an early bouncer. Soon enough, though, the left-hander was playing some of his silky cover drives and, for two hours, New Zealand purred along. Bell reached a half-century that might just earn him a tour to England next month, then Fleming followed suit to make sure he would finish with a Test average above 40. But much more was needed from both and their exits, in the space of four overs after tea, put thoughts of cricketing miracles in perspective. Aiming to pull Panesar's long hop into the stand, Bell only top-edged to long-leg where Broad, after an initial miscalculation, held the catch comfortably. Then Fleming, trying to cut, edged to Ambrose.

England's players, like everyone else at McLean Park, applauded Fleming back to the dressing-room. A century would have been nice but, in many ways, an innings of 66 perfectly summed up a career that brought him more than 7,000 Test runs yet contained no more than nine hundreds.

Back in the middle, the door was open. Broad, continuing to charge in, was simply too sharp for both Sinclair, who could get only bat handle on a bounder, and Elliot, hopelessly late on a hook.