kiwis snatch dramatic 1-run win over england; level series

On Tuesday, in the second Test between New Zealand and England at Basin Reserve, New Zealand played a worth watching Test match as they snatched the second Test from England by just 1 run and became the fourth team in the history of cricket to win a test match after being forced to follow on.
In the second session of the final day, New Zealand’s sensational pacer Neil Wagner emerged as the saviour for the Kiwi team, as he took England’s last man James Anderson’s wicket and helped his team in winning a thrilling victory.
Earlier, after being dismissed for just 209 runs in the first innings of New Zealand, they were asked to follow on. But, Kiwi’s star batter Kane Williamson smashed his 26th Test century with a fighting spirit and created some expectations for New Zealand’s fans.
Later on, England had to chase down a decent target of 258 runs in the fourth innings of the match. England’s middle-order experienced batter Joe Root and Captain Ben Stokes somehow created a path for a clean victory for England. Root scored 95 runs off 113 balls and Ben Stokes made 33 runs off 116 balls.
But, it was a complete Neil Wagner’s day, who took 4 wickets in 15.2 overs in the fourth innings of a must-win match.
With this historic win, New Zealand joined three other teams who have won a Test match after being forced to follow on. With the most recent before this clash came back in 2001 when India clinched an unlikely win against Australia in Kolkata.
The Kiwis’ winning margin of one run is just the second time in the history of Test cricket that a match has been decided by that narrow margin, with the only other occurrence coming in 1993 when the West Indies pulled off a similar triumph over Australia in Adelaide.
This series was not a part of the ongoing World Test Championship, as both teams New Zealand and England are already out of the championship’s run.