England will be gutted given the fact that they got to bowl more than the minimum quota of 98 overs on the final day against New Zealand in Christchurch and still could not able to across the line. The visitors were cruising at one stage having reduced the Kiwis to 219/7. However, Ish Sodhi and Neil Wagner had a different plan in mind as they pulled off one of the best rearguard efforts in the recent history of Test cricket to ensure a draw for the hosts.
Sodhi and Wagner batted nearly 32 overs and eventually, England ran out of time and light top concede the hard-fought Test series 1-nil.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony, England skipper Joe Root praised the New Zealand batsmen's “nerves of steel” saying that they threw almost everything at them but the Black Caps batters were just too good.
"We threw absolutely everything at NZ today. Absolutely proud of the bowling unit. Fair play to NZ, they were too good. Barring that first innings at Auckland, it's been a really close series. We let ourselves down in that innings but have shown a lot of character ever since,” Root said.
It was New Zealand’s first Test series win over England since 1999. On the other hand, England have now played 13 overseas Tests without a win. England’s last away Test win had come against Bangladesh in October 2016.
“You want to play in big series and we got that opportunity in this winter. Unfortunately things didn't go to plan but we need to pick ourselves up for the summer. Yeah, we would have loved a third Test. I think this series was a great advert for Test cricket. As I said earlier, we threw everything at them, few edges fell just short of the fielders but that's how it goes," the England captain added.
It was a Test of the new-ball bowlers for a major part of the game. Boult and Southee shared the wickets in the first innings and Broad-Anderson responded in style to do the same. However, the hosts gained momentum through their lower order who reduced the deficit considerably to ensure that England had to bat a fair amount of time to build a sizeable lead.
While Tim Southee was adjudged Man of the Match for his 7-wicket haul at Hagley Oval, left-arm Kiwi pacer Trent Boult won the Man of the Series award for his 15 wickets in 2 Tests.
