Draw belies drama with series at stake
David Leggat
in Christchurch One of the oddities about cricket was pointed out by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson last night.
Two teams had slugged their way through five days, culminating in a thrilling finish at Hagley Oval and . . . neither side won.
England had the better prospects at the start of the final day but weren’t good enough to clinch a win; New Zealand had been coming second for most of the match and yet courageous defiance through the last two sessions enabled them to get the fabulous reward of a rare series win over the English.
“I suppose it’s one of the few sports where there can be so much on the line, and you come away with a draw,” Williamson said.
“It’s the best possible result for our team on the day and a great advertisement for test cricket, too.”
New Zealand were some way short of their best in this test. Some of the strokes by which batsmen tossed wickets away in the early part of yesterday deserved a rocket.
Williamson confined himself to “a couple of shots, if we went back in time, we would probably change”.
He praised England’s performance: “They threw a lot at us — two tough test matches”.
Although it should be said one was clearly tougher than the other, after England’s capitulation for 58 in the first innings of the day-night test at Eden Park.
As for Sodhi, he wanted to make up for what he felt was a disappointing return with the ball in his core role in the side. He took none for 77 over his 16 overs in his 15th test and first since October 2016.
“There was a lot of waiting to get back into this game, and contributing to the team means a lot. The fact I was able to do it and get us across the line for a series victory banishes all that from my mind.”
Sodhi praised Neil Wagner, his batting partner for 107 minutes which got New Zealand to safety.
“Waggy is a fighter and he dragged me along. There were tough periods. All I could hear was the Barmy Army Ish Sodhi [England’s vocal travelling fans] at the end. Their songs will be ringing in my head for a while.”
As he left the field, Sodhi put his fist to his heart and saluted the crowd. No need for captions on that image.
“I’m rapt to be part of a series win,” he said.