New Zealand won the series after hold out for draw

Tags: England tour of New Zealand 2018, New Zealand Vs England, 2nd Test at Christchurch, Mar 30-03, 2018, New Zealand, England

Published on: Apr 04, 2018

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New Zealand draw the 2nd Test with Ish Sodhi Stand and won the series with 1-0.England made the perfect start to the final day.

England did not quite finish off New Zealand because they did not have a third seamer bowling a full length. In their zeal to take ten wickets on the final day and level the series, England let baby and bath water fly out the window. England had achieved a first innings lead of 29 because they had pitched the ball up, but the sight of Sodhi gloving a few short balls was too much: they unleashed a bouncer barrage that was admirable in its endeavour and almost as naive as their batting at Eden Park when they were dismissed for 58

They made the perfect start to the final day when Stuart Broad claimed wickets with the first two deliveries but the tourists were unable to winkle out the final few batsmen as the fading light cast long shadows over Hagley Oval.

Opener Tom Latham scored 83 but it was spinner Sodhi's 168-ball 56 not out that most frustrated England, who scored 307 in their first innings and 352-9 declared in the second after New Zealand's first knock of 278.


"Series victories, especially over England, don't come around that often and just to be part of this, especially when I was quite disappointed with my performance with the ball, was massive for me," Sodhi said.


"The whole time I was thinking about batting as straight as I could, they started bowling bumpers around the wicket and I found them quite hard to pick up so there were some tough periods there."

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