New Zealand vs England, 2nd Test at Hamilton, ENG in NZ, Nov 29 2019 - Ball by Ball Commentary

4.16pm So, that's the end of that. It's been an attritional series, but you can't fault New Zealand's dedication to the cause, as they put a bow on what is no doubt a very cathartic series win over a familiar opponent. From myself and Valkerie, good morning/good night! Oh, and here's a match report to see you on your way.

So Williamson is presented with the series trophy, as the New Zealand team gather for their photos. Another impressive series win for the No.2 Test team. The Australia series is going to be a humdinger!

Kane Williamson: "It was a great fighting effort over the last couple of weeks, to lose both tosses but show that fight was pleasing to see. the first match was a fantastic victory and we backed it up with a strong performance.

"The surface was a tough one, but we lost a bit of time due to weather. From our guys' perspective, great to see the fight and attitude when nothing was happening. Collectively a good effort, a lot of cricket coming up over the ditch [in Australia]"

"Going over there is tough and they are a very good team. We'll have to adapt to some new challenges over there."

Joe Root is talking at the presentations. He's the man of the match after his impressive 226 in England's only innings.

"I felt pretty good from the start of the innings," he said. "It was a tricky period at the start. I just tried to get the rhythm back in my batting. Thankfully we got into a position where we could force a result. It was a really good pitch as a batter, and I was really proud of the way we played throughout the innings. It was a good comeback from the last match we played last week."

"It was a shame about the rain today, without losing those sessions, the pitch might have deteriorated quicker and we'd have played the back end of our innings differently, but that's part and parcel of the game we play. We want to learn quickly, and become more resilient on pitches like these. Go on and make big totals and build scoreboard pressure.

"We've learnt about people in these conditions, been good in many ways, and we'll take that forward into South Africa."

MATCH ABANDONED! Praise the Lord, they've pulled the plug.

3.54pm Live pictures from Hamilton, where the umpires are strolling around, looking at puddles. It's all thoroughly pointless and very cricket.

3.49pm Boomer Sandwich: "Joining the 'Gatting v Denly debate here. As a junior cricket coach, when I want to be sure the beginner child will catch it, I don't throw the ball above their head and into the sun. So Denly wins the worst drop award. The prize? A bottle of English red wine, sure to also be an awful drop."

Deep Gill : "Instead of calling it a draw, how about deciding the result by the number of boundaries. If we are using first innings boundaries only then good news for England since they win 49-47. But if we include the Kiwi's second innings, its good news for the Kiwis since they win 49-73. " Knowing NZ's luck, the regulation would clearly be first-innings only. Like bonus points in County cricket.

ps- it does appear that we are taking tea! Cricket is so extra ...

3.37pm PhilFour: "Will the match state become "tea" at 1540, as per cricket custom?" We're about to find out... ooh, the tension!

Aaron: "What is there to decide...I'm in Hamiton (not at the ground), it's chucking it down and doesn't look like stopping soon. Why wait until 4pm?" Because ... cricket

3.20pm So, it appears we will have a definitive decision at 4pm. Perhaps it's because Sky are showing extended highlights of the World Cup final, and we're just going into the second innings of the Super Over ...

PhilFour: "World Cup Final...where the England side got 10 lucky runs (1 a gift by the umpires) in the last 2 overs of regulation??" That's the one. It was quite tense!

3.10pm Inspection in five minutes. Stand by your beds ...

Syed Abdul Kare: "It nice to see new Zealand in good form. So, we can expect good competition in test cricket when India arrive. Keeping fingers crossed. "

2.55pm Still no official word on an abandonment, but it's only a matter of time.

KiwiAtHome: "As a long suffered NZ fan I'm loving our team at the moment. In series gone by we would struggle to get more than 2 hundreds and a handful of 50s, in 2.4 innings currently we have 1 double hundred, 4 hundreds and 5 50s. Amazing stuff"

Jess: "Man of the Match should go to Denly for dropping that absolute sitter. That way in 30 years when we look back at this match, well see his name and remember. " It's a fair point.

2.38pm Vinod Rajpal: "Hey Andrew.....Would we see hand-shakes in some time ??" I suspect so. It is minging out there. Even if they were able to mop it up, there's nothing left to play for. Milestones, and honours, all resolved.

The Gav: "So proud of my mighty Blackcaps. Another Test series win (in all probability) to further enforce their hard-earned Number 2 ranking in the lead up to achieving what has always been an impossible scenario for NZ. A Test series win against Australia on their own turf. It would be so fitting for Williamson to complete this goal that McCullum had always set for NZ cricket."

2.27pm Bharath Seervi has a humdinger of a stat for us: "Williamson's hundred was the 299th century for NZ in Tests and now Taylor gets the 300th ton." Scenes!

Tim: "Hopefully the rain clears in time for a super over. It seems the only fitting way to end this."

john: "Glad New Zealand won the test series. Does not make up for the world cup though. Jammy England. Liverpool fc not far behind. Sick and tired of people getting on the English bandwagon. Be it at cricket . Football. Tennis. Tim Henman at Wimbledon. All the glory hunters come out the wood work and I am English before anybody has a pop at me." U ok hun?

A. Sensarma: "So, this series was a mixed bag from England's perspective. Joe Denly showed immense heart in the first Test, but his poor performance in this one showed there's two sides to every coin. Joe Root managed to hang on to his captaincy too, even if just so. As for New Zealand, Santner was the find of the series. Wattling, Williamson and Wagner continued to be in form. No worries for them at the moment!" I think they found Santner a while ago... but other than that, hard to dispute that assessment.

2.12pm "The rain is very heavy now," says George Dobell. I suspect this might be curtains.

Otaj Ihba: "If I were a betting man, I would say that the upcoming series against Australia has got the potential to be one of the best in recent times. This might be the first time New Zealand has a favourable chance of winning a series Down Under. I, for one, will be following with a keen eye." Too right. And a rare Boxing Day Test for New Zealand too. They will be up for it, no question.

Alfred: "It's a 1-0 series loss again, but it does seem a happier result this time around. Certainly better than being bowled out for next to nowt on day one." Indeed. It counts as progress. England are at a very low ebb in Test cricket, irrespective of Stokes' heroics in the Ashes. Especially overseas.

Ben: "To be fair, the pitch is flat, but the two teams' fielding arguably had as much to do with this one petering out. Latham, Burns and KW all made hundreds after offering straightforward chances early in their innings. Also multiple missed run-out opportunities. Both teams will need to improve in that regard if they're to threaten in their upcoming tours. "

2.02pm Brett Turner: "Hows that snails pace now England?" To be honest, I don't think they'll care too much. I doubt they'd have forced a win on this pitch anyway. And frankly, given the kamikaze nature of their recent batting collapses, I reckon they'll be happy to have discovered they can bat time when they put their minds to it

John: "I reckon that Burns might feel rather unlucky to have been run out in this game. How many missed run out opportunities have there been? Far more than they're should be in a Test. " It's a fair point. Though it was also a terrible bit of running. He'd stuttered on the first run, let alone the second.

1.55pm Rain stopped play. That local knowledge served Taylor well! Off they go, and to judge by reports from Auckland, this could get soggy.

Denly appeared to have a "you owe me one!" word to Williamson as they left the field, all in good humour of course. And Stokes has an arm around him now... all's forgiven!

Walter: "And your top partnership for the match is . . . Williamson/Taylor." Twas ever thus...

Abhijato: "Sent in a comment yesterday predicting a big Williamson innings ... Glad that he's only gone on and scored another subtly magnificent century!"

Ben: "ball 72.3 seems a common threat when these two a batting. For two genuinely world class batsmen they are terrible between the wickets" This is a fact...

Paul Bartlett: "When was the last time that Williamson and Taylor got centuries in the same innings. Was it Perth when Ross got 290" Potentially. And they'll be back there next week!

Super Si: "Took the chance to go to YouTube during lunch - Gatt's Gaffe still beats Denly's Drop. But it's close!" Probably fair, yes. But my goodness. What horrors!