Ben Stokes: England captain 'lucky' to be part of thrilling loss to New Zealand

The Black Caps beat England in one of the best ever finishes to draw 1-1 .

"It's disappointing not to win, but we're looking at the big picture," said Stokes at BT Sport.

"What everyone enjoyed here today is probably bigger than any disappointment for now.

< p class="" data-reactid=".o657371ole.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-6">"Being in this situation for the last half hour is all whatever you wish.

"And even if we came out on the wrong side, you can't help to feel blessed that we managed to be part of an amazing game like this."

Talk to BBC Sporting the moment James Anderson was fired to seal New Zealand's win, Stok es said: "I didn't know how Jimmy would react when he left.

"He's been in these positions before where he left disappointed, but the fact that he left smiling made you ut what we talk about and what we talk about true and a reality."

Stokes said he has no regrets for applying the follow-up despite New Zealand becoming only the fourth team in history to win a Test after being asked to do so.

"Imagine being a captain in hindsight? It's not something I would ever do," he said.

"C It was always our game to lose once the sequel had been imposed on us. The logic was that our bowlers had ripped their first order three innings in a row and we knew New Zealand had to play pretty much the perfect game to put us in a situation like this.

" Beating in the final innings chasing 250 isn't something we were worried about, but you have to give huge credit to the New Zealand, not just for the way they hit their second innings but the way they played and managed to get early wickets with not too many runs on the board.

"Other teams are allowed to pay better than us and New Zealand have played better than us this week."

New Zealand captain Tim Southee says dramatic finale can only be good for form l a longest in the game.

"Gotta say it ranks up there", a- he declared. "There were only a few teams that were asked to follow and win so that's pretty special.

"We were on the back foot after two days and the character shown over the past three days has been really nice.

"It's great for test cricket as England played and it was another great test match to be in.

"All the guys here cherish Test Cricket and I hope matches like this will be good for Test Cricket in the future."

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