Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor made centuries on a rain-hit final day of the second Test to frustrate England and secure a series win for New Zealand.
England had hoped to force a fifth-day victory to level the series but their chances of doing so had vanished long before the rain arrived to wash out much of the last two sessions as Williamson and Taylor shared an unbroken 213-run stand for the third wicket to take New Zealand to 241-2.
Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor both made centuries before rain stopped play
Williamson (104no) had some fortune along the way as he was dropped on 39 by England's stand-in wicketkeeper Ollie Pope on 39 and again on 62 by Joe Denly off Jofra Archer, who was already celebrating before Denly shelled the most straightforward of chances.
No sooner had Taylor (105no) reached his hundred with back-to-back sixes off Joe Root, the heavens opened and with no prospect of a resumption two hours later, the match was eventually confirmed as a draw.
New Zealand had started the day on 96-2, trailing by five runs, with England needing quick wickets. They should have got one with the Black Caps still in arrears as Ben Stokes banged the ball in short from around the wicket and Williamson gloved it down the legside, only for Pope to drop the catch.
Williamson's century from his 21st in Test cricket
It proved a costly miss as Williamson and Taylor quickly found their rhythm on the most docile of pitches at Seddon Park and with conditions appearing as batsman-friendly as they had at any time in the game, both eased to half-centuries.
The game was ambling towards a stalemate when, from nowhere, Archer drew a mistake from Williamson. The New Zealand captain did not pick the knuckle-ball and chipped it gently to midwicket.
Archer was wheeling away in celebration, only to look round to see the ball on the turf with Denly inexplicably having passed up the simplest of opportunities.
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Williamson advanced to 96 by lunch and got to his 21st Test ton in the third over after the restart with a delicate sweep for four off Root.
The skies with looking increasingly gloomy and two overs later, Taylor realised he was running out of time if he wanted to join his skipper in getting to three figures. He promptly swept Root for a four and two sixes to bring up his 19th Test hundred and two balls later, the covers were being brought on.
No more play was possible in the day and while England can now look ahead to the start of their Test series in South Africa on Boxing Day, next up for New Zealand is a three-Test series in Australia that begins later this month.
