England were able to pull off a draw in the first Test against a fired-up New Zealand at the Lord’s Cricket Stadium, courtesy of Dom Sibley and Rory Burns’ runs.
The hosts survived a mammoth Devon Conway innings, Tim Southee’ masterclass with the ball and Henyr Nicholls’ grit to avoid a loss in the first home Test.
The Kiwis drew heaps of praises on social media after declaring early in the second innings to give themselves a courageous, but risky chance to draw the first blood in the away series.
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England were given a 273-run target to chase by NZ within two sessions. But the slow pace of the England’s inning showed that they were in to draw the game, not to win it, something they were criticised for on social media as well.
Nonetheless, Dom Sibley and Joe Root stood up to deliver the goods. After a string of low scores, Siblet remained unbeaten on 60 in the second inning to help the hosts afloat before the day ends.
Root fell for a gritty 40 to Neil Wagner, caught on the pads by the left-arm pacer. In the end, Ollie Pope made amends with his 20*.