Neil Wagner has taken four wickets and held two crucial catches as New Zealand pulled off a ‘Mission Improbable’ by beating England by one run in the second Test on a nerve-jangling day five after being made to follow on.

Having set England 258 to win, New Zealand’s hopes faded as Joe Root (95) and Ben Stokes (33) produced a 121-run stand to cut the deficit to 57 runs with five wickets in hand on a sunny afternoon at Wellington’s Basin Reserve.

Enter Wagner, who had both out slogging then nervelessly held catches in the deep to help remove Stuart Broad (11) and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes for 35.

Foakes’s wicket left tailenders Jack Leach and James Anderson needing seven runs for victory, and Anderson smacked a boundary off Wagner to trim the margin to two runs.

Wagner came again and had Anderson caught down the leg side for four to trigger jubilation among the New Zealand players and fans.

It was only the fourth win in the history of Test cricket by a team asked to follow on, and the second time a team had won a Test by a single run after West Indies beat Australia by a run in Adelaide in January 1993.

The two-match series ended in a 1-1 draw, with England having won the first Test in Mount Maunganui by 267 runs.