New Zealand vs England, 1st Test at Dunedin, Mar 06 2013 - Ball by Ball Commentary

But that's it from me, hope you've enjoyed the coverage, thanks very much for joining in and see you later in the series. Before Thursday, tune in for South Africa v Pakistan later today, 8am GMT, and the ongoing Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. India Australia and some World Cup qualifiers coming up next week too. Plenty to get involved with, do enjoy. Until next time, this is Alex Winter signing off...

Analysis from this match comes from David Hopps with today's match report and Andrew McGlashan is in Dundedin to bring us the thoughts from the ground.

We'll never know what might have happened if that first day hadn't been washed out but what we do know if the New Zealand are up for the fight and this series is going to be tighter than many expected. Onward we go to the Basin Reserve, where the consensus is for a much more sporting wicket. That game starts on Thursday New Zealand time, Wednesday night in the UK and we'll have all the coverage as per usual here on ESPNcricinfo.

England got themselves out of trouble with a great fightback. Another ton for Alastair Cook and a maiden century for Nick Compton, finally making his mark on international cricket. They've got out of jail before and have done it again here.

Alastair Cook: "The last two days we showed good fighting spirit. We can take a lot from the way we went about the last two days. But I don't know why we start slow, it is a bit of a concern. We did well to claw it back but in the bigger picture we need to address that issue," he says. "It was great for Compo to get that hundred and Steve Finn, we didn't know he had that in him. Kevin Pietersen is fully fit and the knee is not too much of an issue and he should be fine for Wellington."

Yet despite the surface we had a Test that held the interest because England played some of their poorest cricket for some time on that opening day. A disgraceful batting effort defied the innings that were to follow and handed New Zealand a huge boost and they carried it through the Test. They may have found an opener for the future in Hamish Rutherford, who made an outstanding century on debut. And their bowlers provided such heart and fight and that is a very good sign that they all worked so hard for the team.

Here's Brendon McCullum: "From the moment we stepped on the field to the moment we stepped of it, we showed the heart we want to be known for. We never gave up belief that we could get the job done," he says. "I thought it was a great game for us. The bowlers will get their feet up for three days, it was hard to get the ball out of their hands. Their effort was unquestionable and I'm extremely proud of their efforts."

New Zealand gave it a real go today and their seamers, Southee, Boult and Wagner especially, toiled hard and sent down so many overs of hard graft with absolutely no help at all from the surface. But they were ultimately undone by a wicket that has, in the overall analysis, created a tiring Test match. Even with another day, it was hard to see how this pitch would have changed much.

This is now the final hour drinks come out and is McCullum going to play on? He's picked up a beverage but then wanders over to the batsman and shakes hands on the draw. England survive thanks to this brilliant fightback, 170 overs in the second innings to turn around a huge first innings deficit and we're level heading to Wellington.

So I think this could, and should, be the last over...

Martin comes back, we're not going to bowl more overs than we need to surely? Two more to go before a draw can be declared...

Wagner comes back and this is last chance saloon but it is a chance, needs something special though...