Ah well... as Garlic says , probably England were "due" to lose one of these very close ones. Hurts a bit I guess (especially as it means NZ retain an unbeaten record against England at home stretching past 15 years !) ; but it was such a good game it would be churlish to complain about the outcome.
I imagine there will be plenty of discussion about the wisdom or otherwise of enforcing the follow on (though all rather academic now !) Just for the record , I was fine with it myself - just as I would have been with the alternative choice. Risk and reward : all such decisions take them into account and no one has a crystal ball. This time , NZ batted and bowled well enough to (just) nick the result : well done them
Are there questions thrown up for England by this loss ? Well yes ; but not really any that careful study couldn't have hinted at beforehand. Limitations to the bowling when injury deprives them of their fifth bowler in skipper Stokes : how often does he provide the piece of magic when the regulars get stuck ? Having more extra pace options (hopefully !) available when the home season comes around might help : but the spin position is pretty much the honest but unspectacular Leach - more Ashley Giles than Graeme Swann.
They did win in 2005 with Giles on deck though...
As for the batting : what all looked fantastic on flat decks in Pakistan was somewhat shown up today. Brook getting run out like that was a blow ; but it was perhaps symptomatic of the rather frazzled early batting. Definitely seemed to be a touch of panic in the air until Root and Stokes calmed things down. (I do think the night watchman proved a poor move. Robinson tossed his wicket away pointlessly in the morning to give NZ an early lift. And being spared a few balls last night seemed to do nothing for Pope who looked skittish throughout his short innings). Jury still out on how Duckett will fare in English conditions against serious pace attacks , though he has earned a chance to show what he can do.
Foakes did rather well when left with the tail. Patient (maybe a little too careful in passing up singles to protect Leach ?) until he got a burst of runs that so nearly won the day. He may still be at risk as England consider how to fit Bairstow back in the side. Who knows ? One might think that Jonny would have finished the game quickly in his position by hoisting Wagner's bouncers repeatedly onto the grassy banks...but alternately he might have holed out like Root and Stokes . I actually think Foakes' usually conservative approach to batting is a useful counterpoint to the hitters ahead of him in the order (disregarding questions of keeping duties) and would prefer to see YJB replace the underachieving Crawley ; but acknowledge there are batting order issues to be considered too.
All up : bit of a reality check perhaps. This team has spirit and some style ; but still some way to go if it is to mount the top steps of the Test Match ladder. If they learn from mistakes it won't have cost too much but a bit of hurt pride. And the crowd (who actually had a free entry anyway !) certainly got their money's worth