England could scarcely have been made to feel more welcome in New Zealand, be it a warm-up game tailored to their specifications in Queenstown, those eight dropped catches in Christchurch, or the cheery ground announcer regaling spectators with Harry Brook’s eye-popping statistics throughout the two Tests.
And what have England done in return? Pretty much bulldozed their way to securing the new Crowe‑Thorpe Trophy in the space of seven days and with a third match still to play. Sealed with a 323‑run hammering in windy Wellington on Sunday, it made for England’s first series victory on these shores since 2008 – a tour, like this year, that saw the attack rebooted – and their first on the road since Pakistan in late 2022.
Ben Stokes, whose Kiwi mother, Deb, was among the Barmy Army this week, has also moved to 19 wins as England’s Test captain, one clear of Mike Brearley’s 18 from the same number of games (31). “Sweet,” was Stokes’s reaction to this factoid, having never been one to study the past. This series in the country of his birth has pointed to a brighter future after the 2-1 defeat in Pakistan in October during which he was consumed by his fitness and the stress of a burglary back home. Bowling once more, back among the runs, and smiling with it, this has been a hugely restorative trip.
While he enjoyed mopping up New Zealand’s tail with the ball and figures of three for five, that smile was never broader than earlier in the day when, having opted to plough on with an overnight lead of 533, he watched Joe Root bring up his latest Test century. It came on 98 with the return of the much-maligned reverse-ramp, with Will O’Rourke gloved to the rope and Root barely able to suppress his laughter. New Zealand’s players all applauded the milestone, despite the extra misery its pursuit had brought. “I thought it was awesome,” Stokes said later, having declared on 427 for six.
A demoralised attack and the match situation means Root’s 130‑ball 106 is unlikely to make a best-of montage. But it was still another staging post in his ongoing, relentless climb. Now level with Rahul Dravid’s 36 Test centuries, only Kumar Sangakkara (38), Ricky Ponting (41), Jacques Kallis (45), and Sachin Tendulkar (51) are above him. A sixth in 2024 also matched Root’s personal best in a calendar year: that remarkable 2021 when the weight of the captaincy and the grip of the pandemic were so intense.
Staring at a preposterous target of 583 to win, it was only ever a case of whether New Zealand could force this match into its fourth day; perhaps restore some of the pride that has been dented since their historic 3-0 win in India. And once Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse had whistled up two cheap wickets apiece before rain brought an early lunch at 59 for four, that goal had been revised to simply reaching the evening session.
New Zealand got there at least, Tom Blundell plundering a defiant 102-ball 115 from No 6 that was beginning to trigger memories of Nathan Astle’s violent 222 in defeat at Christchurch in 2002. Shoaib Bashir was manhandled a bit, Blundell launching him over the rope five times. But having already castled Glenn Phillips, the off-spinner finally got his man courtesy of a superb piece of anticipation at slip by Ben Duckett that saw him shimmy to leg and pouch Blundell’s dab at the second attempt.
The Blundell blockage finally shifted after a 96-run pushback for the seventh wicket alongside Nathan Smith, England’s superior catching was again underlined when Jacob Bethell held a swirler to remove Matt Henry. Stokes had brought himself on here, swiftly bouncing out Smith (42) and Tim Southee to complete the victory. New Zealand, bowled out for 125 in their first innings, and 259 second time around, had batted for a combined 89 overs in the match. Talk about a bump back to earth.
Even with a mountain of runs behind them, and Blundell’s rearguard notwithstanding, England were efficient, not least in strong winds in which run-ups were aborted, Bashir’s job was made difficult, and caps were flying off heads. The tone was set by an immaculate new-ball spell from Woakes, castling the form‑bereft Devon Conway for a duck off the inside edge and tickling the other side of Kane Williamson’s bat for four. Whatever the future holds for the senior statesmen, that supposed Kookaburra‑allergy has eased.
Although it is Carse who has stood tallest across the two Tests, even if, here, that also involved stooping low initially to hold a smart reflex return catch off Tom Latham. Carse, who also nicked off Rachin Ravindra, now has 25 wickets from his first four Tests, all of which have come away from home. For context, James Anderson and Stuart Broad’s best winters were 25 wickets – 2017-18 and 2015-16 respectively – and 16 years on from the series win in New Zealand that began their alliance, another has emerged.
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Though standing up to Bashir was tough in the swirling winds, Ollie Pope held six catches across the two innings as England’s auxiliary wicket-keeper and his 66 on day one – from a perilous 43 for four – was central to the pushback. But even in a match that also saw Gus Atkinson claim a rare Test hat-trick, there was only ever one candidate for best on show: Brook, who utterly transcended those bowler-friendly conditions on day one with a 115-ball 123 that he fancied to be the best of his eight centuries to date.
The 25-year-old, who spent the third day off the field with a sore ankle, was not wrong and those audacious sixes smoked over extra cover – albeit mere percentage plays in his mind – will live long in the memory. Having kickstarted Brook’s series with five drops during that 171 in Christchurch, New Zealand have been made to pay for their generosity.
