First Test peters out as England refuse to chase
England erred on the side of caution after being invited to chase down 273 in 75 overs against New Zealand, deciding against pursuing the win as the first Test at Lord’s ended in a draw.
New Zealand had set the game up on the final day by advancing their overnight 62 for two to 169 for six for a lead of 272, with Kane Williamson hopeful of tempting England in the final two sessions by declaring during lunch.
But a grandstand finish failed to materialise, with
England defending resolutely in the face of some challenging bowling from New Zealand’s seamers on Sunday afternoon, meaning the teams head to Edgbaston next week all square.
Joe Root had been eyeing a clean sweep in this summer’s seven Tests – two against the Kiwis and five versus India – but his knock of 40 in an important 80-run stand with Dom Sibley went a long way to guaranteeing a stalemate.
The draw was agreed after England had trickled to 170 for three in 70 overs, with Sibley steadily growing in confidence after taking 20 balls to get off the mark to finish on an obdurate 60 not out from 207 deliveries.
First-innings centurion Rory Burns had earlier edged the deeply impressive Neil Wagner to slip for 25 while Zak Crawley had a flat-footed waft to depart for two, but Sibley and Root frustrated the Black Caps.
Root defended the decision not to chase the victory target, saying: “If you look at the conditions, the surface, it was very challenging. It was slow, hard to time the ball, hard to get any sort of rhythm when you’re batting out there.
“Of course, yes, you look at the target and the amount of overs we did have… but it wasn’t quite as straightforward as that.
"Having batted on that wicket first innings, knowing more time had gone into it, it was always going to be quite difficult.
“Of course that will have disappointed a few people but we’re very much in the series,” added Root.
"Credit to New Zealand – they’ve probably played the majority of the cricket throughout this game. We leave here level and we give ourselves a great chance to win the series at Edgbaston.”