Sodhi, Wagner secure draw for series win
Christchurch, New Zealand - In scenes of umbrella-gnawing tension, New Zealand dug deep in adversity to cling on for a draw in the second Test at Christchurch's bucolic Hagley Oval, and thus secured its first series win over England since 1999, and its first at home since 1983-84.
It was forced to do so the hard way - with fielders camped around the bat for the entirety of the final session, and having endured a stunningly terrible start to the day's play, when two wickets fell to Stuart Broad's first two deliveries, including their likeliest final-day field marshall, Kane Williamson, for a first-ball duck. But thereafter, New Zealand found enough heroes to fill the gaps in its ranks - not least among them, Tom Latham, whose 207-ball 83 was the mainstay of the first two sessions, and Colin de Grandhomme, whose 45 may have ended in a potentially disastrous brain-fade, but nevertheless completed an impressive all-round contest.
But in the final analysis, it was left to a brilliantly gritty eighth-wicket stand of 37 runs in 31.2 overs between Ish Sodhi - whose antepenultimate-over smash through midwicket for four brought up a richly deserved fifty after he had spent 31 deliveries on 48 - and Neil Wagner, who was eventually caught off an inside edge off the final ball of the match for seven from 103 balls, having scarcely glanced in any direction except straight back down the wicket.
With Tim Southee marching out to replace the crestfallen Wagner, Joe Root was forced to admit defeat as the umpires finally deemed the light to be unacceptable.
England had pushed to the bitter end of a bitterly disappointing winter, but its quest for a first overseas victory since October 2016 will now be extended at least until the tour of Sri Lanka in six months' time.
Throughout a gripping final day, England was given plenty reasons to believe that it was firmly on course for a first win in seven attempts this winter - particularly when Broad lured Jeet Raval into a limp leg-side flick to square leg before blasting Williamson from the crease with a brute of a lifter that grazed his splice on the way through to the keeper.
New Zealand lost two more key wickets in a one-sided first session, including a maiden Test scalp for the left-arm spinner, Jack Leach, and went to tea six-down with its series hopes firmly on the line.
De Grandhomme had extended his seventh-wicket stand with Sodhi into a 27th over but was out off Mark Wood and at 219 for seven with the light still holding firm, England had the opening for which it had
been striving. Except that Sodhi and left-handed Wagner frustrated the England to seal a tense finish.