Think of Harry Houdini, with Steve McQueen overtones and a splash of Moses marching to the Promised Land, and you have some idea of the capacity of the West Indies team to escape from trouble when it seems they are down and almost out for the count.

With England within a few hours' batting of making the match and the series safe, it happened once more yesterday. Put in to bat by Jimmy Adams, England did not lose a wicket until bang on the tea interval, by which time Mike Atherton (83) and Marcus Trescothick (78) had eclipsed the ground-record opening partnership against West Indies with a stand of 159.

Trescothick's demise, though, precipitated a slide that saw four more wickets fall for 55 runs, including the England captain Nasser Hussain second ball for nought and Alec Stewart, also for a duck.

Graeme Hick and Graham Thorpe managed to see the day out in gathering gloom as Ambrose and Walsh cranked up a gear.

With England on 219 for five from two deliveries short of the full 90-over quota, the honours are just about even, although the initiative is with West Indies. The second new ball, which has been available for 10 overs, will have a big bearing now.

For two sessions, until leg-spinner Mahendra Nagamootoo had Trescothick smartly taken at slip by Sherwin Campbell to give him his first Test wicket, the England openers had played with relative ease, the century stand coming up after lunch.

With West Indies on the rack, the period to the tea interval ought to have been negotiated without alarm. But Trescothick attempted to force flashily off the back foot and Campbell's reflexes did the rest.

It is never an easy matter following a large stand, but Hussain was easy meat anyhow, propping forward to the second ball after the interval and edging Nagamootoo to Ridley Jacobs. With the captain's departure, Thorpe began to provide the counterpoint to Atherton and there was the making of another solid partnership when from nowhere Nixon McLean nipped one back, clipping first pad and then the very top of middle-stump.

Now it was Stewart's turn to fail. Quite what induced him to plant his front pad a foot outside off stump when the ball was homing in on middle stump, only he knows. Michael Vaughan then announced himself in emphatic manner, clipping McLean through mid-wicket and then easing him to the point boundary next ball.

Adams brought back Ambrose from the Pavilion end, however, and immediately Vaughan padded up to a ball that cut into him.