Dunedin, New Zealand, Mar 10: England's Ian Bell, with an unbeaten 26, and Matt Prior, 23 not out, today helped their team through to stumps and salvage a draw at the hands of hosts New Zealand at the University Oval on Sunday.
At close, England were 421 for 6, a lead of 128 runs. The visitors were facing a 293-run deficit in the first innings.
With the wicket not yielding much results, England's nightwatchman Steven Finn was removed for 56, and Joe Root quickly followed with a duck.
A relieved England captain Alastair Cook said, the draw has put them on good footing for the second Test.
“The character to dig ourselves out of a hole is very pleasing,” he said.
“It certainly gives us some confidence, especially when you get bowled out for 160 in the first innings, as a batting unit you can start to have negative thoughts. You don't want that to snowball.”
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said the first Test was a morale-boosting performance for his side.
“We never gave up the belief that we could get the job done but we weren't quite able to finish off,” he said, adding that the opening day's play was lost due to rain.
“Another day of Test cricket would have been phenomenal. You lose that first day and you have to try and work out how to congest such a good game into four days. Unfortunately we weren't able to.”
