The most encouraging aspect was perhaps the character and determination shown by our batsmen, albeit they did not achieve the results they would have wanted. Both openers failed in the first innings, but the second innings was different. Jamie How and Aaron Redmond came out to bat for a tricky 15 over period; bear in mind that Redmond was sitting on a pair in his debut test match. They managed to negotiate this period with aplomb, with How especially looking assured. Redmond’s first runs in test cricket, a boundary, were runs to savour. Sure, Sidebottom gifted them to him, but Redmond rocked back and punched it past point in Damien Martyn-esque fashion. Both batsmen fell to good deliveries the next morning, but they at least showed everyone that they are worth persevering with.

The same might be said for James Marshall. Batting in an unfamiliar first drop position, filling the huge shoes of Stephen Fleming, Marshall was already under a lot of pressure before having to come out to bat in only the second over of the first innings. He batted for over an hour, and although he scored only 24 runs, showed good defence and resilience, and then in the second innings was perhaps a little unlucky. England and the umpires were unhappy with the ball (which at that point was not swinging), and the very first ball after the change, Sidebottom got one to swing back into Marshall’s pads. Marshall should be kept at first drop for at least the remainder of this series.

Daniel Flynn showed maturity and patience beyond his years; you wouldn’t have thought it was his test debut! Flynn has a solid defence and looks good when hitting the ball square or in front of square. He was clearly a little nervous, as you would expect, but when he played himself in, he quite simply did not look like getting out. He batted for almost 3 hours in the second innings, helping NZ to save the test.

If the weather had not intervened, who knows what might have happened. However, given the circumstances, I feel that England didn’t do themselves any favours with some of Michael Vaughan’s decisions. Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad were causing problems for our batsmen when the ball was swinging, but just couldn’t quite get the ball in the right spots often enough. Broad though I feel bowled extremely well. So I find absolutely staggering that with around a couple of hours left in the day, Vaughan threw the ball to Kevin Pietersen. At this point, NZ had a lead of around 140, with both Oram & Flynn well set. England needed quick wickets, so why wasn’t one of the strike bowlers called upon? Although Pietersen only conceded 9 runs from his opening 3 over spell, he bowled 18 balls that didn’t even look like threatening either batsman.

So an even contest, it has to be said, and a draw was probably a fair result. NZ will take more out the test, however, than England, given that our inexperienced batsmen looked largely unfazed by the same bowling attack that recently made the likes of Matthew Bell, Mathew Sinclair and Grant Elliott look horribly out of their depth at test level. After a first innings rescue act from McCullum gave NZ something to bowl at, our bowlers really dug in and showed much character themselves, even after England’s top 3 all posted good scores.

Much like their previous encounters this season, this match was an intriguing battle, and ensures the rest of the series should be just as close and intense.