Cricket Community reacts to historic encounter between NZ-England

Basin Reserve (Wellington) [New Zealand], February 28 (ANI): New Zealand scripted a beautiful story to become the fourth team to secure a test victory after facing a follow-on. Each player stepped up when the moment demanded it. Kane Williamson and Neil Wagnor played a pivotal role in making this test match a classic one.

After being put into bat by New Zealand captain Tim Southee, England put up a blistering performance in the first innings of the second Test. On the back of hundreds from Harry Brook (186) and Joe Root (153*), they got to 435/8 in merely 87.1 overs. England’s bowlers then got into the act to bundle out the Kiwis for 209. England skipper Ben Stokes enforced the follow-on. However, the Black Caps put up an excellent rearguard fightback in their second innings.

Kane Williamson led the charge with 132, which was his 26th Test ton. During this knock, Williamson became New Zealand’s leading run-scorer in Tests. Half-centuries from Tom Blundell (90) and Tom Latham (83) helped New Zealand set England a target of 258. On the final day, Neil Wagner’s short-ball barrage led the Kiwi charge as England fell short by one run. Wagner’s 4/62 was New Zealand’s best figure in the fourth innings.

This great spectacle of Test cricket received plaudits from all around the cricketing fraternity. The Black Caps join three other teams to have won a Test match after being forced to follow on, with the most recent prior to this clash coming back in 2001 when India clinched an unlikely win against Australia in Kolkata. This was only the second time in Test cricket history that a side had won a Test by the margin of one run. The first such instance took place in 1993 when West Indies beat Australia at Adelaide.