New Zealand, Being Asked To Follow On, Beat England By 1 Run; Achieve Rare Milestone

<p>In a thrilling Test match between New Zealand and England in Wellington, the hosts managed to hold on to a win by 1 runs to level Test series 1-1 despite having their backs against the wall for much of the game. The Three Lions dominated the first half of the match and even enforced a follow-on on the Kiwis but eventually lost the match.</p> <p>With this sensational victory, New Zealand have become just the third team after England and India to win a Test after being asked to follow in. In fact, this is such a rare achievement that only three times before has a team managed to do it. While the English side have done it twice in the past- against Australia in 1894 and 1981, India were the only team before New Zealand to do in the 21st century, having beaten Australia in the iconic Kolkata Test of 2001.</p> <p>Talking about the match, the home team won the toss and chose to field first. However, their bowlers were not as effective as captain &nbsp;Tim Southee would have liked and England declared their first innings at 435/8 riding on centuries from Joe Root (153) and Harry Brook (186). In response, the Blackcaps were bowled out for only 209 with skipper Southee top-scoring with a quickfire 73 off 49.</p> <p>However, after they were asked to follow on, New Zealand were superb in the second innings and Kane Williamson &nbsp;led the way with a hundred (132) with Tom Latham (83), Devon Conway (61), Daryl Mitchell (54) and Tom Blundell (90) all chipping in with half-centuries as they ended their second innings at 483, setting a target of &nbsp;258 runs to win for England.</p> <p>The visitors though were bowled out for 256 with Neil Wagner picking 4 for 62 and Tim Southee and Matt Henry scalping 3 for 45 and 2 for 75 respectively.</p>

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