Foakes played a very important role yesterday. If he was not there, then things would have got difficult for England. Because their tail was very long. But he played responsibly and provided good support for Joe Root. New Zealand bowlers on the other hand failed once more while playing under pressure. And this is true especially in the case of Kyle Jamieson. I have noticed that he loses his length and rhythm, as soon as things doesn't go as expected. New Zealand are now up by 1-0, but two more matches remain in this series.
With 5 wickets in hand, England easily chased down the total. At one point, however, it seemed that the visiting team had the upper hand. New Zealand's dream is shattered by a solid partnership between Root and new wicket-keeper batsmen Ben Foakes. In this series there are still two matches to be played, so it may be possible to restore balance soon. It would be nice if England won to silence New Zealand.
One of the biggest reasons why they won the match was because they had all the time in hand. So, the New Zealand bowling lineup could not possibly rush them into scoring faster. And that's what the England batsman did. They took their sweet time scoring the 61 runs. And it was very important that they did not lose any early wickets because that could have made things turn around in the match. Before the match started I actually expected England to win but after the collapse, I thought New Zealand might have a chance.