If Test cricket is to survive, beyond the odd series such as England v Australia or India, it has to be promoted far more wisely than now. A two-Test series, like England’s against New Zealand, which is tacked on at the end of a tour looks like an afterthought - an official proclamation that the longest format no longer matters.

All the ingredients were available to make this series an attention-grabber, had it been played over three Tests with a couple of competitive warm-up games, which are the best means of promoting and marketing a Test series. Two teams so well-matched, once England got their 58 in Auckland out of their system; exemplary relations between the sides, in complete contrast to the simultaneous series in the southern hemisphere; while the rival 27 year-old captains, Kane Williamson and Joe Root, made for a fascinating comparison in themselves.

This series was all set up for a third Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington - though not next week in mid-April, when the new England season is starting. This was England’s longest tour for over half a century, since their one to Australia and New Zealand in 1962-3, and at times it seemed to last for more than half a century. So the T20 tri-series which occupied the first half of February to little effect, other than broadcast revenue, should have been the part of the schedule cut in order to make space for a three-Test series.

Root, in trying to level the series at 1-1, timed his declaration nicely to set New Zealand a target of 382 off 137 overs, but he did not have the luck that any commander needs when bad light on the fourth evening cost him 24 of those overs. England were due to get an extra eight overs on the final day in recompense, but they were scheduled to be added on at the end, so with autumn closing in they were only going to be bowled if the sunniest of sunsets bathed Hagley Oval.