After three days of intense cricket, the destiny of the third Test and hence, in all probability the series, hung in the balance as Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart, a pair whose rapport as opening batsmen was considered so vital when the touring party was selected, survived an ordeal by fire in the evening sun.

Asked to make 225 to win England faced the spectre of a wearing, increasingly unreliable pitch, Curtly Ambrose and 1994. It is the tallest of tall orders, for only eight times in Test history has a team batting last made the highest score of the match to win, although the last occasion was just a week ago on this same ground.

England might have capitulated in front of a chanting, cheering carnival crowd. Instead, playing with confidence, and a willingness not to be intimidated by the situation, Atherton (30 not out) and Stewart (14 not out) carried the fight to West Indies, adding 52 for the first wicket from 25 overs before bad light ended play two overs early, the day ending not with Ambrose and Walsh on a roll but with the gentle spin of Hooper and Adams.

England still require 173 more and there is a mighty long way to go, but that is a first victory won. England have been accused of softness at times in this series so far, but now, when it really matters, we shall find out what they are truly made of.

Earlier England, Angus Fraser and Dean Headley in particular, had fought back manfully, reducing West Indies from 71 for two overnight to 102 for five, before a sixth wicket stand of 56 between Shivnarene Chanderpaul and Jimmy Adams gave their side breathing space.

Chanderpaul was eventually out for 39, the first victim in a stunning eight-ball burst of three for one from Headley. But Adams, who had just 14 by the time the eighth wicket fell and under pressure for his place in the side, nursed the tail so successfully that when he eventually drove the third delivery with the second new ball to extra cover, he had made 53 in three and three quarter hours, the West Indies had reached 210, and the last two wickets had added 51 invaluable runs.

That final wicket gave Fraser his fourth wicket of the innings - for 40 - ninth of the match and 20th of the series, at less than 10 runs apiece, and already the Caribbean series record of 27 wickets, taken by John Snow, the New Zealander Bruce Taylor, and the Indian legspinner Gupte is in jeopardy. He has been magnificent. So too was Headley yesterday. Having bowled poorly in the series so far, he came back so well on Saturday evening, that Atherton entrusted him with the Northern End for the entire morning and, when he was on his knees, summoned more effort from him during the afternoon. His response, and reward was to take four for 77.

Much of England's cricket was in stark contrast to Saturday's flabby capitulation with the bat, and Andy Caddick's pathetic offering with the new ball at a time when England really needed to come out punching. This is not a blameless pitch by any means but as Atherton, Stewart, Lara and Adams have demonstrated the scores of neither side offer a true reflection of its worth. In England's first innings, only the Surrey trio of Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe and Mark Butcher had looked anything like comfortable, but having battled away to ward off the predatory fast bowling, each was guilty of the soft dismissal against spin when pace held the key.

The first session yesterday was vital for England were they to get back in the match, for 71 for two overnight, with Lara threatening, meant that this would be, even at this stage of the series, England's last throw of the dice. If West Indies ran away in the morning, then there would be no way back in match, or almost certainly, series and with Caddick unreliable and becoming persona non grata despite his five wickets in the first innings, Atherton's strategy lay in Headley and Fraser.

Even by his own standards, Fraser cannot have anticipated the level of success he has enjoyed so far.