Bairstow stokes the fire for recovering England

ENGLAND v NEW ZEALAND • ENGLAND WON THE SERIES 3-0

2-6 June	1 England 141 & 279-5 beat New Zealand 132 & 285 by five wickets	Lord's
10-14 June	2 England 539 & 299-5 beat New Zealand 553 & 284 by five wickets	Trent Bridge
23-27 June	3 England 360 & 296-3 beat New Zealand 329 & 326 by seven wickets	Headingley

JONNY BAIRSTOW obliterated New Zealand on the final day of the second Test at Trent Bridge yesterday as England secured a first Test series victory for 17 months. 

Bairstow struck 136 off 92 balls and, along with new skipper Ben Stokes, launched a ferocious attack on the Black Caps' bowlers.

England resumed after tea on the final day requiring 160 off 38 overs - and, at this stage, a win for either side was still possible.

Perhaps, instead, the match would drift towards the draw to which it had appeared to be meandering for most of the first four days on a pitch which played true throughout.

Immediately, though, that concept was dismissed by Bairstow and Stokes - though especially Bairstow.

Sixes and fours, fours and sixes. England smashed 59 runs off the first 24 balls after the interval - but this was no short-term assault.

In the first over after tea, the required rate fell below four per over for the first time. 

Fours and sixes, sixes and fours. By 4.22pm, only 22 minutes after the break, the requirement was below three per over. 

Even then, when "normal" Test batting might have sufficed, England did not let up - and this match set a Test record for the most boundaries with 250 in total.

There was an unexpected interruption to this complete battering in the 46th over when Bairstow was caught behind having earlier missed the opportunity to become the fastest Test century scorer for England by a single ball.

Gilbert Jessop - who still holds that record after his ton off 75 balls against Australia at the Oval in 1902 - will sleep easily tonight... particularly as he died in 1955.

In the absence of Bairstow, Stokes himself stepped up and ended up hitting an unbeaten 75 off 70 balls.

Indeed, at 5.06pm - just an hour after tea - the required rate had been reduced, rather ridiculously, to below one run per over. 

During the closing stages of this incredible chase, England remained fluent, if not quite as fierce as when Bairstow was at the crease - and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes played calmly in protection of England's long tail. 

Appropriately, though, it was skipper Stokes - with a magnificent cut through extra cover - who secured successive excellent wins under his short tutelage.

Of course, Bairstow will get the plaudits - and deservedly so for his unforgettable knock.

But, while former captain Joe Root is still a massive key part to this team with the bat, there is little chance under his leadership that England will have made such a concerted effort to go after 299 in 72 overs.

The evidence of that came just 12 months ago in June 2021, also against New Zealand, when England crawled to 170-3 off 70 overs having been set a target of 273.

Former skipper Nasser Hussain bemoaned the total lack of intent shown from England who failed to win either home series last year.

Hard on the back of a difficult summer came another away Ashes mauling - and a miserable series defeat in the West Indies when, after two draws, England were bowled out for 120 in their second innings in Barbados.

Consequently, ahead of the first Test at Lord's in this series, England had won only one of their past 17 Test matches in a sequence dating back to February 2021.

Root, with huge regret and frustration, stepped down from the position of skipper - and he can be forever proud that he never let his own standards drop. Ever.

The 31-year-old regularly produced his best with the bat while captain - a rare thing indeed, considering many of his predecessors have struggled with the additional pressure automatically piled upon them by the position.

Moreover, Root was badly undermined by a lack of support from the English Cricket Board (ECB) which, quite frankly, fell apart during his period as captain. 

By the end of the tour of the Caribbean in the spring, rudderless England were without a full-time chairman, a full-time director of cricket, or a full-time head coach. 

Furthermore, Root had to deal with COVID-19 bubbles - months of uncomfortable isolation as international cricket did its best to stage matches in an alien world.

In short, although the Yorkshireman clearly lacked a killer instinct tactically, he also got a pretty raw deal - and it was perhaps little wonder that his tenure finished on a low ebb.

By contrast, New Zealand came into this series as the current World Test champions after beating India in the Final in June 2021.

However, the Black Caps played nothing like world champions with the bat in the first Test as Durham fast-bowler Matty Potts took 4-13 on debut in their first-innings total of 132.

Old habits die hard for England, though - and the hosts were bowled out themselves for 141 before lunch on the second day for a meagre lead of nine runs.

Just after lunch, New Zealand were 56-4 in their second innings and a two-day Test became a distinct possibility.

But Daryl Mitchell (108) and wicketkeeper Tom Blundell (96) combined in a stand of 195 for the fifth wicket and, at 251-4, the match had threatened to drift away from England.

Then Stuart Broad produced one of *those* special overs to account for Mitchell and bowl Kyle Jamieson for a golden duck.

In between, the hapless Colin de Grandhomme - who would later dismiss Root off a no-ball and suffer an injury - was also out from his first ball, run out by Ollie Pope after dozing outside of his crease following a lbw appeal. It was a team hat-trick, if you like. 

All of a sudden, New Zealand had gone from 251-4 to 251-7 and, although the evergreen Tim Southee attempted to hold England up for a bit, the Kiwis' tail was wrapped up by lunch.

Faced with a fourth-innings target of 277, this looked like a stern task for an England team so prone to collapsing under pressure - and they swiftly fell to 69-4.

By then, though, the irrepressible Root was at the crease and set about constructing a match-winning innings of 115 which brought him his 10,000th Test run and his 26th Test century.

Root was ably assisted by Stokes (54) and Foakes (32 not out) as England ended up making remarkably light work of the chase, especially considering this is a team which is not used to winning.

In the second Test this week, England again won in the second half of the match after both teams' first innings were pretty much even - but the similarities ended there.

New Zealand, in fact, carried a narrow lead of 14 runs after their mammoth total of 553 in which Mitchell (190) and Blundell (106) again did the damage.

In reply, the struggling Zak Crawley was out to a beauty of a ball from Trent Boult - but the rest of the England top order stood firm.

Alex Lees saw off the new ball and made 67 while new number three Pope made a magnificent 145 in a stand of 187 with Root for the third wicket.

Stokes thumped 46 off 33 balls before a more considered approach by Root, with an outstanding 176, and Foakes (56) pushed England beyond 500.

Their two wickets left the tail exposed - and, having resumed on 473-5, England added only 66 more runs before being dismissed for 539.

Usually 553 against 539 on first innings would have signalled a certain draw - but both teams had batted so positively that there was still the best part of two days to play.

New Zealand did not exactly struggle in their second innings of 284 - seven players made double figures - but, critically, none of them managed to progress to a three-figure score.

In reply, England initially struggled to combine keeping up with the required rate and keeping wickets - and looked in trouble at 56-3 when Root gave a caught-and-bowled to Boult with a leading edge for just three.

But then Bairstow came to the fore to win match and series with one of most magnificent innings in Test history.

	THE 10000 CLUB			Runs	100s	50s	Avg.
1	Sachin Tendulkar	1989-2013	India	15,921	51	68	53.78
2	Ricky Ponting	1995-2012	Australia	13,378	41	62	51.85
3	Jacques Kallis	1995-2013	South Africa	13,289	45	55	55.37
4	Rahul Dravid	1996-2012	India	13,288	36	63	52.31
5	Alastair Cook	2006-2018	England	12,472	33	57	45.35
6	Kumar Sangakkara	2000-2015	Sri Lanka	12,400	38	52	57.40
7	Brian Lara	1990-2006	West Indies	11,953	34	48	52.88
8	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	1994-2015	West Indies	11,867	30	66	51.37
9	Mahela Jayawardene	1997-2014	Sri Lanka	11,814	34	50	49.84
10	Allan Border	1978-1994	Australia	11,174	27	63	50.56
11	Steve Waugh	1985-2004	Australia	10,927	32	50	51.06
12	Joe Root	2012-2022*	England	10,194*	27	53	49.97
13	Sunil Gavaskar	1971-1987	India	10,122	34	45	51.12
14	Younis Khan	2000-2017	Pakistan	10,099	34	33	52.05