New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said his team will have to start all over again in the second Test at Edgbaston after the first Test against England ended in a draw as his side failed to bowl out England on a pitch that did not deteriorate as much as he expected.
England, who were asked to chase 273 in 75 overs on a final day pitch after Kiwis declared their second innings at 169/6, did not go for the target. New Zealand struggled to run through their batting on a pitch that did not break as much as a fifth-day wicket would.
Williamson didn’t just bowl all his bowlers but also brought himself on for two overs. They could pick only three wickets as England ended at 170 for three in 70 overs.
“We made the decision [to declare] based on what gave us potentially the best chance to win the game, or enough overs [to take the wickets]. We knew losing a day was going to be tough but we wanted to give it a crack. Unfortunately towards the end things fizzled out a bit, we were expecting the pitch to deteriorate a bit more and it did show signs on day four in particular that that was going to happen, but it sort of flattened out,” said Williamson after the match.
“We declared for a reason and that was to try and push for a victory,” Williamson added.
“Although it seemed unlikely for a period, if one spun out of the rough or you were able to open up an end, then things could happen reasonably quickly, and we were holding on to that hope for as long as we could. But clearly, things became quite docile out there.”
The 30-year-old New Zealand No. 3 batsmen, who are rated as one of four best batsmen in world cricket, said his side if faced with such a chase, would have gone for the target. However, he felt both sides were expecting the pitch to deteriorate which is why neither England went for the chase nor New Zealand gave up till the end.
“It’s always tough to know how an opposition will look to attack a chase, obviously all three results still possible. If we were in that position, you do want to get a really good base and try to take the game to a deep stage where you might have a smaller chase of fewer overs but throw all your resources at it. Clearly, there was a lot of work to do to get to that, a lot of overs left and I think both sides were expecting the pitch to deteriorate more,” he added further.
The third day of the Test was washed out.
“It kind of ebbed and flowed, and scoring wasn’t quick throughout. We felt if we could pick up wickets throughout that would give us the best opportunity and life could be quite difficult, but that wasn’t the case. Things didn’t perhaps unfold for either side.
“We have to start again and adjust to conditions in Birmingham [which hosts the second Test],” he said.
