On the final day of the second Test at Wellington, New Zealand defeated England by one run in a thrilling Test match.
The toss was won by New Zealand, who chose to bowl. England declared their first innings total of 435-8, thanks in large part to unbeaten centuries from Joe Root (153*) and Harry Brook (186). However, Matt Henry’s four-wicket haul limited the Kiwis’ damage. In response, New Zealand’s first innings was led by captain Tim Southee’s 73, but Stuart Broad’s four-wicket haul limited them to 209 all out.
Following that, New Zealand staged a stunning comeback, led by Kane Williamson’s 132, and ably supported by Tom Latham (83) and Tom Blundell (90). Despite taking five wickets, New Zealand set England a target of 258 to win the match.
England were again carried by captain Joe Root’s 95 in their second innings, but it was not enough as New Zealand held their nerve to secure a thrilling one-run victory. With this victory, New Zealand evens the Test series at 1-1. Kane Williamson is named Player of the Match for his outstanding performance throughout the game.
England skipper Ben Stokes stated how the crowd got their money worth and this incredible change in the game is what actually defines Test cricket –
Ben Stokes: That game is what Test cricket is about, it was just incredible. The emotions we were going through and obviously the Kiwi boys out there as well. Was incredible to be involved in such a Test match. Everyone’s got their money worth. It was a case of assessing the situations, we always knew that at some point in that partnership (between himself and Root), Tim was gonna have to roll the dice with something. Wags came on and blew the game open for them. For myself and Joe there, that was our opportunity to pounce. Sometimes things don’t happen the way you want them to. With those bouncer plans, we had to make a decision and obviously it didn’t come off for us. It was an opportunity for us to score runs there. As soon as Waggie came on to do those bouncers, I saw it as an opportunity to maybe take 20 runs off the over and then bring the game even more in our favour. Credit to Waggie and Tim for coming up with that idea. (On his knee) Better than bad. Disappointing to end with a loss here. We had a great summer last year. We have a few months off before the Ashes. We will look to do what we can.
