"I asked the lads to show how much it meant to play for England - the desire and how proud you are to represent your country. Today was a good representation of that"
Monday 2 April 2018 14:06, UK
England captain Joe Root said he was pleased with the "desire" and "character" his team showed on day five of the first Test against New Zealand, despite slipping to an innings-and-49-run defeat.
Heavy rain on days two and three had raised hopes of a draw, but England were always unlikely to escape from the Auckland Test with a positive result after being embarrassed on the opening morning when bowled out for 58.
Still, Root was satisfied with the "determination" shown from his side in the second innings, as they batted for the best part of three sessions on the final day before ultimately being bowled out for 320.
"Today's effort was a massive improvement from the first innings," said Root. "Before the start of the day, I asked the lads to show how much it meant to play for England - the desire and how proud you are to represent your country. Today was a good representation of that, showing a lot of determination, drive and character.
"Credit to New Zealand. Throughout the second innings they constantly tested us out and unfortunately we weren't quite good enough."
Despite the better second-innings showing, England still slipped to a 10th defeat in their last 12 Tests away from home since winning the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong back in October, 2016.
Root admitted his side need to be better on the road, adding that this defeat was particularly difficult to take, given familiar conditions to what they play in back home.
"The fundamentals of the game don't change, wherever you play," said Root. "You need to make big scores of over 400 and you to take 20 wickets.
"As a group, as a collective squad, we're always looking for ways of getting better, perform more consistently on different surfaces around the world. At home, in our own conditions, we're a handful and very difficult to play against.
"But we didn't adapt quickly enough to the conditions here. That is disappointing, because we're used ball moving around, seaming and swinging.
"No one gave themselves the opportunity to get in and build a partnership in that first innings and that is so vital in Test cricket. No excuses. We just weren't good enough."
Watch the second Test between New Zealand and England from 10pm, Thursday on Sky Sports Cricket.
