Brendan Taylor, Tino Mawoyo and Tatenda Taibu approached a 300-plus chase on the final day in contrasting, but refreshing, styles to leave Zimbabwe needing 101 off a possible 29 overs in the final session. Mawoyo blunted the sharp end of New Zealand's intent, and after his dismissal Taibu was more than assiduous in thwarting them until tea. But Zimbabwe's hero was once again Taylor, who hustled away to his third century of the tour, and fifth score in excess of 50 in six attempts.

New Zealand were lucky to make even that solitary breach, in two sessions comprehensively dominated by the bat. Most telling was the lack of incisiveness from Daniel Vettori, whose already unimpressive fourth-innings record took another beating.

The rain clouds dotting the horizon gave the seamers absolutely no assistance in the morning, and the signs were ominous for New Zealand from the moment Taylor steered a Chris Martin length ball into the covers. The shot was played with the authority and intent of a batsman whose primary motive wasn't fourth-innings survival.

Martin's opening spell was thwarted by the lack of bounce, leading to a change of ends that only served to help Taylor shift gears. Taylor whipped the first ball of the over furiously over square leg, before chipping out and punching a straight six, and upper-cutting a short ball over third man for four. In Martin's next over, Taylor drilled him through the covers and shredded him square for two more fours, to break into the 30s at a run-a-ball. New Zealand's strike seamer had been neutered comprehensively. Their lead spinner was about to be denied in a more stubborn manner.

Mawoyo had already displayed tremendous powers of denial in his marathon 163* against Pakistan in September, and furthered his credentials on the final morning here. He was roughed up early by Bracewell's well-directed bouncers, but that spell ended when Martin changed ends. Crucially, Mawoyo was confident against Vettori, choosing to play him off the front foot as often as possible - a significant departure from the method he used against Saeed Ajmal's bigger bag of tricks in the Pakistan Test.

With Mawoyo stone-walling Vettori, Taylor got stuck into Jeetan Patel's offspin. He scampered out of his crease three times in the space of seven balls he faced from Patel. Each of those deliveries met with consummate swipes of the blade, and was deposited deep into the recesses beyond the leg-side boundary. For the first time in the day, New Zealand were the side more anxious for the 40% chance of afternoon showers to come good.

As is often the case in these circumstances, a part-timer intervened with a fortuitous breakthrough. Martin Guptill came on for a round off offbreaks, and his second ball bounced extra as it turned down the leg side. Mawoyo somehow contrived to drag it onto the stumps round the legs as he attempted to nudge it with the turn. His untimely exit stalled the scoring-rate after lunch, as Zimbabwe receded too far into their shell. Taibu subdued his normally breezy outlook, but Taylor's caution was more understandable since he was nearing his 100.

The diffidence should have cost the hosts, but they were lucky to survive a couple of close moments. With the runs drying up, Taylor scrambled across for a quick single in the 59th over, but the cover fielder missed the stumps. Taibu was trapped in front by a sharp inswinger, and - not for the first time in the match - umpire Marais Erasmus ruled in the batsman's favour for no obvious reason.

The defensiveness allowed New Zealand to employ several men close-in, with Brendon McCullum crouching at the batsmen's face at silly point, and tumbling forward in anticipation almost every ball. John Bracewell set up a leg-trap - two short legs about five yards from each other - and bent in a series of reverse swingers. Taylor clipped one of them uppishly, but the ball found the gap and bounded away for four. He eventually brought up his century by steering a soft edge between the keeper and slip.

Taibu eventually broke free after pottering around to 9 off 67 balls, cutting and steering Martin for fours, before taking a four and a six off Guptill. Taylor joined in the fun with his fourth leg-side six off the hapless Patel. New Zealand turned to the new ball in desperation, and the game was in the balance when Taylor scythed the tenth ball after its introduction to deep cover. BJ Watling dived forward to scoop it spectacularly inches from the ground, but it was impossible to say from the camera angles on offer whether it was a clean catch. The biggest moment of the match had gone Zimbabwe's way.