England clinch series win against New Zealand with 323-run victory in Wellington
England secured their first away series in two years with a 323-run rout of New Zealand, Joe Root marking the occasion with a 36th Test century.
The tourists followed up their eight-wicket success in Christchurch with a three-day thrashing in Wellington, celebrating success on the road for the first time since their trip to Pakistan in December 2022.
After losing seven of their previous 10 matches overseas, Ben Stokes’ side have now rediscovered the winning feeling and put themselves back on track ahead of next winter’s crucial Ashes contest.
This was a thunderous victory in the Kiwi capital, bowling the hosts out for 259 in pursuit of a colossal target of 583 to take the honours 2-0 heading into next week’s finale in Hamilton.
Match Action
They declared on the third morning on 427 for six, Root ticking off the sixth hundred of another prolific year to go joint fifth with India’s Rahul Dravid on the all-time list of century makers.
Stokes called time on the innings as soon as Root was out for 106, impatient to get his side bowling despite having an unbeaten 49 of his own and no shortage of time to add more.
Only a defiant knock of 115 from Tom Blundell delayed England’s inevitable triumph and things would have ended much quicker had Jacob Bethell not dropped the wicketkeeper on nought.
Stokes finished things off himself, taking three for five to wrap up the innings after Shoaib Bashir finally dismissed Blundell. Bashir had a tough time attempting to hold down an end in high winds at Basin Reserve, leaking seven sixes on the way to figures of two for 110.
England’s position already looked impregnable at the start of play, 533 ahead and with five second-innings wickets still in hand.
Declaration
Incredibly, after just two days of action, they found themselves weighing up their likely declaration. First, though, they wanted Root to reach his landmark.
He did not keep his team-mates waiting for long, converting his overnight 73 in just 21 balls to make it six tons in 2024.
With New Zealand going through the motions he helped himself to five boundaries, the last of which took him to his hundred in brazen fashion.
On 98 he dropped to his knees to play the reverse ramp against Will O’Rourke, tumbling to the floor and just clearing the wicketkeeper.
It was hardly his most elegant moment but he saw the funny side, grinning as he charged to celebrate with Stokes at the non-striker’s end.
Root hammered the next ball for four but was caught one-handed by Blundell from the one after that, with Stokes immediately drawing the innings to an end.
The winning line looked impossibly far but New Zealand would have hoped to improve on their dire first-attempt of 125 all out.
New Zealand’s second innings
Yet there was more of the same as Devon Conway played around a seaming delivery from Chris Woakes to fall for a duck.
The left-hander has become a walking wicket for England, making 21 runs in four attempts, but Kane Williamson remains a most valuable scalp. Woakes got that one for just four, grazing his outside edge with one that shaped in and held its line.
The tame resistance continued when Brydon Carse entered the attack and took two deliveries to open his account, tumbling to his right to hold a return catch one-handed as home captain Tom Latham drove with a crooked bat.
And Carse made it 59 for four before lunch when he tempted the out-of-sorts Rachin Ravindra to flash a catch behind.
Tom Blundell
England may well have wrapped it up in the afternoon session had Bethell held on to Blundell when he fenced Carse into the cordon, but the batter squeezed every drop out of his extra life.
He blazed a 96-ball hundred, with five sixes and 13 fours. He saved his biggest hits for Bashir, who was trusted with a long and difficult spell in blustery conditions.
The off-spinner offered up too many loose deliveries and found New Zealand in an unforgiving mood. He persevered long enough to run one through Glenn Phillips in his 10th over and finally exacted a small measure of revenge on Blundell.
It was an unconventional departure, caught by the alert Ben Duckett after Ollie Pope parried a mis-hit scoop but Bashir was overjoyed to stem the tide.
Stokes then picked his moment sending back Nathan Smith, Matt Henry and Tim Southee in the space of 11 deliveries to guarantee he would be taking home the newly-minted Crowe-Thorpe Trophy.
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