NZ VS ENG - 2nd Test, England tour of New Zealand, 2019

New Zealand have just lost one Test series in the last three years and are rightly ranked number two in the longest format. But their real test will be in a fortnight's time when they face Australia away. England's Test woes continue as they lose another series and their next assignment is in South Africa. Hopefully Root and Co. replicate this performance against the Proteas as well. That's all from our side for today. Hope you guys enjoyed our coverage as it is now time to draw the curtains. On behalf of Akshay Maanay, Abhinand Raghavendran and Sreenivas - this is Nikhil Jadhav signing off. Laters!

Kane Williamson | New Zealand captain: It was a great fight over the last couple of weeks, we know how strong as a unit they are. The first match for us was a fantastic win and to come back here and play like this was again a good effort. To lose both tosses but show that fight was pleasing to see. We lost a bit of time due to weather, but from our perspective it was great to see. Guys wanted the ball and collectively it was a good effort. We have a tough challenge coming up. It was a great contribution by Daryl in his first match. It was a tough surface for the seamers. Australia are a very good team, so it's always tough going there. We have to adapt to the challenges that we are presented with.

Joe Root, Man of the Match | England captain: Felt pretty good from the start of the innings, was a tricky period at the start. I just tried to get the rhythm back in my batting, few technical things. Thankfully we got into a position where we could force a result. It was a really good pitch as a batter, really proud the way we played throughout the innings. Good comeback from the last match that we played last week. It was a shame about the rain today, about losing sessions earlier. We could have potentially played a bit differently. But that's part and parcel of the game. As I said we as a side want to learn quickly and make sure we become a much harder side to beat. We want to score really big totals and put sides under pressure. We have learnt a lot, it's been very good in many ways. We need to make sure we carry the lessons we learn here ahead. We are very fortunate to have the support that we do, extremely grateful.

At that point, England had the best chance to enforce a result but the pitch did not allow them as it remained true and flat. The new ball saw the back of the openers cheaply but the experienced duo of Williamson and Taylor stood firm. First they batted through day 4 and ensured there were no more causalities and today they put the game to bed with an unbeaten 213-run stand and in the process got to their respective milestones. England had their chances this morning but the two dropped catches of Williamson put an end to their fight. Rain had already spoilt more than a session on the first four days and on day 5 it arrived just after lunch to bring a premature end to the game.

15:56 Local Time, 02:56 GMT, 08:26 IST: Play has been abandoned as the two skippers shake hands. New Zealand clinch the series 1-0 and continue their home dominance - they have not lost a series for two years now. The surface at Hamilton was supposed to hoop around given the green nature. England even went in for an all-pace attack but it turned out to be one of the deadest surfaces. Tom Latham set the New Zealand innings up with a fine hundred and there were contributions from Taylor and Daryl Mitchell. England responded superbly with Root leading from the front and notching up his maiden Test double as captain, while Burns and Pope played supporting acts. Neil Wagner's fourth 5-fer in as many Tests ensured the lead was just 101.

15:20 Local Time, 02:20 GMT, 07:50 IST: Umpires Dharmasena and Paul Wilson went to both captains and had a word. There were no handshakes. The umpires have set another deadline - 16:00 local. Not sure why the delay though as it is still pouring down.

14:55 Local Time, 01:55 GMT, 07:25 IST: "Umpires to have a look at the ground and weather at 3:15pm (NZT). Rain still falling consistently here at Seddon Park..." - tweet from BlackCaps. We should have an official word in about 20 minutes time.

13:55 Local Time, 00:55 GMT, 06:25 IST: The rain was expected to arrive at 14:00 local and it is right on schedule, well maybe five minutes early. The players are walking off the field with the two skippers having a word with each other. Denly catches up with Williamson and says something along the lines - "you owe me one Kane" and has a smile as they trudge off. The groundsmen rush onto the ground and cover the square. It is pretty heavy and seems like it will stay that way for at least an hour. We might have seen the last bit of action from this series. But we'll be back once we have more updates..

Root to Ross Taylor, no run, slower and around off, Taylor prods forward and blocks it down the wicket

Root to Ross Taylor, no run, angled across off and Taylor stabs it into the off-side with a straight bat

Root to Ross Taylor, SIX, hundred for Taylor. The signature tongue out celebration from him. Takes off his helmet and raises his arm to celebrate Test ton #19. He gets there in majestic fashion. Down on one knee and nails the slog sweep onto the grass banks near deep mid-wicket

Root to Ross Taylor, SIX, that's much better. There's the Taylor of old. A clean swing of the bat on the slog sweep and this time the connection was sweet, the ball keeps sailing over the deep square leg fence

Root to Ross Taylor, FOUR, Taylor wants to get to his milestone quickly. He kneels down and plays the famous Taylor slog sweep over mid-wicket, not off the middle and hence the ball lands well before the boundary rope

Root to Ross Taylor, no run, in the air and short of Burns. Overcooks the flighted delivery and Taylor whips it with a hard hands, the bat almost got stuck to the surface and spooned it towards mid-wicket, Burns took it on the half volley

Denly to Williamson, no run, nice loopy delivery and Williamson dead-bats it into the off-side

Denly to Ross Taylor, 1 run, flighted outside off, Taylor creams the drive straight to sweeper cover

Denly to Ross Taylor, 2 runs, tossed up close to off, Taylor kneels down and paddles it fine, easy two

Denly to Ross Taylor, no run, marginally short and Taylor cuts it straight to backward point

Denly to Williamson, 1 run, now Williamson repeats the shot, allows the ball to land and then drives it to sweeper cover

Denly to Ross Taylor, 1 run, floaty delivery outside off and Taylor eases the drive to sweeper cover