Joe Root expressed a mixture of frustration and pride after his side drew the second Test and failed to level the series against New Zealand, which suggests that his expectations of this England side are diminishing. After all, England have lost a series in New Zealand only once before – in 1984.

“We could not have done more. I was proud of them. We kept asking questions of New Zealand throughout the day but unfortunately it did not go our way. It’s frustrating. This was a good fifth-day wicket; there was not much deterioration and there was no movement with the second new ball,” he said before acknowledging that the four dropped catches in the innings were critical on such a benign surface.

In trying to explain that lack of movement in the final session in a match when the new ball tended to dart around, he pointed out that there were soon chunks out of the ball after hitting the boundary boards at Hagley Oval – but do not worry; there were no suggestions of any antipodean subterfuge here.

Root admitted the winter of five defeats and two draws had been “disappointing” but he was determined to be upbeat. “This week we have been more adaptable; we had more options with the ball,” he said. “And after that 58 [in Auckland] we became a better side with the bat. If we keep the mentality of this week we have a chance of winning again. We can get a lot out of this week but we are nowhere near where we want to be as a side.”

Root praised the efforts of Jack Leach in what he described as an “encouraging debut”. The England captain said: “He stood up well to all the expectations. Next winter in Sri Lanka and the West Indies spin will play a big part. It was great for us to have Jack come in and perform as he has.”

At the other end of the scale in terms of Test experience is Alastair Cook and Root expressed confidence in his predecessor, who had a torrid time against Trent Boult in this series, with only 23 runs in two matches. “I fully expect Alastair to be opening the batting at the start of next summer,” Root said. He was tougher on himself, even though he was, comfortably England’s leading scorer in the winter’s Test matches: “It’s been disappointing personally, not converting all those starts. Now I look forward to a bit of time off and then working at a few things before playing a few county games.”

As for the rest of the batting in the upper order he said that England had some “talented players” but he could offer them no guarantees. “Like everyone else they’ll have to prove that at county level at the start of the season.” Perhaps the solitary bonus of playing so much County Championship cricket in early spring is that there are plenty of opportunities for someone to put together a run of eye-catching scores to challenge the incumbents, of whom only Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes and Root can be sure of a place.