How Bazball delivered England's first win in New Zealand in 16 years in Test cricket's fastest-scoring series ever

New Zealand v England in 2024/25: Ali Martin

Test matches (3): New Zealand 1 (9pts), England 2 (21pts)

The only time England had previously played as many as 17 Tests in a calendar year, it left a captain running on empty, and a vacancy soon after. But in contrast to Alastair Cook in 2016, Ben Stokes ended 2024 on a high, presiding over England’s first series win in New Zealand for 16 years, and insisting he had plenty in the tank. Yet despite securing the new Crowe-Thorpe Trophy with a 2-1 win, and leading a team whose own rejuvenation had been embodied by the 21-year-old Jacob Bethell, Stokes was due back in the garage for repairs. A hamstring tear suffered on the tour’s penultimate day – a recurrence of the injury that had interrupted his summer – raised doubts about his viability as a fully fledged all-rounder before series in 2025 against India and Australia.

Stokes was typically defiant at the end of a three-match series which, at 4.40 runs an over (England cantered along at 5.02 to New Zealand’s 3.94), was the fastest-scoring in history. After breaking down in his 37th over of the third Test at Hamilton, he met the inevitable question about workloads with a gruff “I ain’t holding back.” News that he would undergo surgery quickly followed, and with it a vow from Stokes on social media to “fuck some shit up” the next time he took to the field. If the language might have caused the ECB to squirm, it confirmed his resolve to give everything.

Stokes had finished the tour of Pakistan less than two months earlier feeling as spun out as his team, having been tactically meek and uncharacteristically tetchy. “I can’t take myself into that sort of area ever again,” he said before the first Test in his native Christchurch. Having flown out early to visit his mother, Stokes had also felt moved to clear the air with team-mates during a warm-up week in Queenstown. And so, at the end of the trip – even with his left leg strapped and New Zealand sending Tim Southee into retirement with a crushing if consolatory 423-run win – England’s victory still felt restorative, a third series win in a year when the team had been refreshed and remodelled.

The Crowe-Thorpe trophy itself – a Maori taonga, or treasured item – was a poignant addition to Test cricket’s collection of bilateral titles. It had been crafted by David Ngawati, a celebrated local artist, using willow from two precious bats: the Gunn & Moore used by Martin Crowe to score 142 at Lord’s in 1994, and the Kookaburra with which Graham Thorpe made 119 and 108 during England’s 1996/97 tour of New Zealand. Coming four months after Thorpe took his own life – a loss felt acutely by Stokes and Joe Root, two of his batting apprentices – it underlined the bond between the countries. The grassy banks at Hagley Oval, Basin Reserve and Seddon Park, where fans from both sides mingled amicably, spoke of harmony off the field too.

New Zealand had begun with an outside chance of making the World Test Championship final, but faltered while the series was live, and spent it carrying Southee towards the finishing line: his six wickets cost 54. Defeat was a jolt for a side who had just returned from a historic 3–0 win in India. As well as initially dropping the player of that series, Will Young, to accommodate Kane Williamson’s return from injury, the hosts also dropped eight catches in Christchurch, five of which allowed Harry Brook to repeatedly wriggle free like a cartoon mouse, and make a match-shaping 171. Along with a ten-wicket haul for Brydon Carse – the first by an England seamer abroad since Ryan Sidebottom during their previous series win in New Zealand, in 2007/08 – it gave the tourists a 1–0 lead.

Those reprieves set Brook’s tour in motion. In the second Test at Wellington, on a series-clinching opening day of 15 wickets, he transcended a greentop with a masterful 123 from 115 balls. He declared it the best of his eight Test centuries, just two months after his triple in Multan, and nudged Root off the top of the ICC rankings – despite Root scoring a hundred of his own in the second innings. But Brook’s first reign as No. 1 was brief, and his tour a microcosm of England’s: slightly fortuitous in the first Test, vastly superior in the Second, plunged into an ice bucket in the third.

Indeed, along with belated recalls for Young (Devon Conway, who had struggled for runs, was on paternity leave) and Mitchell Santner, it was above all the 6ft 4in Will O’Rourke, summoning hitherto unseen speeds of 95mph and dismissing Brook for nought and one, who averted a whitewash. Another Hamilton century for Williamson, who top-scored in the series with 395 runs but never dominated England, built on his work. But Daryl Mitchell thrived only when the pressure was off, and Rachin Ravindra – without even a half-century – failed to match his heroics in India. Wicketkeeper Tom Blundell’s lone innings of note was a hard-hitting century in a lost cause at Wellington.

And well though O’Rourke bowled, often without reward, the best quick in a seam-dominated series was the muscular Carse, whose 18 wickets followed nine in his debut series, in Pakistan; 27 was more than Jimmy Anderson or Stuart Broad ever managed in an English winter. Along with 12 for Gus Atkinson – who finished his first year of Test cricket with 52, and picked up a hat-trick at Wellington – it underlined England’s success in moving on from two greats. Chris Woakes, the one remaining veteran, was rested for the final Test, and ended his own winter with three wins from three.

England’s renewal was perhaps best reflected by Bethell’s trio of second-innings half-centuries from No.3, despite arriving as a spare batter without a professional hundred (he hadn’t gone in higher than No.4 for Warwickshire either). Everything changed during the warm-up match in Queenstown, where head coach Brendon McCullum – keen to test out his bowlers against a youthful Prime Minister’s XI – used his local contacts to whistle up a road roller from the nearby airport, in a bid to flatten out the pitch before the second day. Next morning, having been inked in to keep wicket while Jamie Smith missed the tour to attend the birth of his first child, Jordan Cox fractured his thumb receiving throwdowns in the nets, and was ruled out of the series. Durham’s Ollie Robinson was called up, but a passport delay meant Ollie Pope took the gloves for the first Test, sliding down to No.6 and handing Bethell his chance. The move was a success: Pope’s keeping was assured, and his busy 77 helped Brook rebuild from 71-4. And with Bethell’s back-foot game and steadfast composure catching the eye during an unbeaten fourth-innings 50 – earning a central contract the following week – England stuck with the strategy.

Pope’s selflessness began to look almost self-defeating. Even after he made a vital 66 alongside Brook in Wellington, turning around another unpromising position, Bethell shone once more with 96, inviting questions about the long-term plan for the No.3 position. And after Pope was bowled in ugly fashion attempting a reverse ramp on the final day of the series, McCullum spoke vaguely about a “good problem to have”. His words not only weakened Stokes’s earlier assertion that Pope would move back up the order in the summer, but contrasted with McCullum’s explicit support for Shoaib Bashir and Zak Crawley, who both endured difficult tours.

The endorsement of the 21-year-old Bashir factored in his immaturity, and came after he had taken 49 wickets in his first year of Test cricket. But Crawley fell six times out of six to the wily Matt Henry, at a personal cost of ten runs. No matter: McCullum described him as a “huge member of the side”, and noted that he had topped the averages during England’s most recent encounters with India and Australia.

Like the punt on Bethell, it summed up the gambler’s streak in McCullum, who had begun the tour by watching “Stokes”, one of his racehorses, at Riccarton Park in Christchurch. “He’s a big chestnut with a pale face and dodgy legs,” he said. “That horse has got a big heart, too, so I thought the name was perfect.”

England touring party to New Zealand, 2024/25

*BA Stokes (Durham), R Ahmed (Leicestershire), AAP Atkinson (Surrey), S Bashir (Somerset), JG Bethell (Warwickshire), HC Brook (Yorkshire), BA Carse (Durham), JM Cox (Essex), Z Crawley (Kent), BM Duckett (Nottinghamshire), MJ Leach (Somerset), OJD Pope (Surrey), MJ Potts (Durham), OG Robinson (Durham), JE Root (Yorkshire), OP Stone (Nottinghamshire), CR Woakes (Warwickshire). Cox broke his thumb before the first Test, and Robinson flew out to join the squad.

Head coach: BB McCullum. Assistant coaches: JM Anderson, PD Collingwood, JS Patel, ME Trescothick. Strength and conditioning coach: PIB Sim. Doctor: A Biswas. Physiotherapist: B Davies. Massage therapist: MES Saxby. Analyst: RJ Lewis. Team operations manager: AW Bentley. Head of communications: DM Reuben. Content manager: AS Taylor. Security manager: Y Ali.

At Queenstown, November 23-24, 2024 (not first-class). Drawn. Prime Minister’s XII 136 (36.4 overs) (S Reddy 60; CR Woakes 3-25, AAP Atkinson 3-15, BA Carse 4-48) and 313-5 dec (68 overs) (JT Todd 49, HRW Kindley 56, TM Johnson 80, JM Tashkoff 56, S Reddy 33*; OP Stone 3-53); England XIV 249 (45.1 overs) (Z Crawley 94, OJD Pope 42; H Johal 3-25) and 196-9 (22 overs) (JE Root 82*, BA Stokes 59).

The English, who used all their players except Rehan Ahmed and Jacob Bethell, brought the game to an explosive climax on the second afternoon. Set 201 from 22 overs, they went for their shots, though only Joe Root (82* off 54) and Ben Stokes (59 off 39) succeeded. The ninth wicket fell at 190, before Shoaib Bashir was left needing to hit the last ball for six; he could only plink a single. They had started the game strongly, bundling their hosts out for 136 after it was agreed they would bowl first, and reaching 170-2 on the back of confident knocks from Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope. But eight wickets fell for 79, and the New Zealanders proved a tougher proposition second time round, on a surface rolled at England’s request. Bashir bore the brunt of their aggression, taking 2-130 in 25 overs. Troy Johnson, the captain, top-scored, before granting England their run-chase.

First Test at Christchurch, November 28-December 1, 2024

Lawrence Booth

England won by eight wickets. England 9pts (after 3pt penalty), New Zealand -3pts (after 3pt penalty). Toss: England. Test debut: NG Smith; JG Bethell.

There are a couple of routes to Hagley Oval from the centre of Christchurch: a whizz on an electric scooter, zipping around pedestrians and across junctions, or a stroll through the Botanic Gardens and over the Avon River, where the fastest transport is the occasional punt. No prizes for guessing England’s choice: they zoomed to the ground on two wheels, and didn’t let up on the pitch, speeding to victory in three and a half days of engrossing cricket. New Zealand seemed a touch hungover after winning in India; for England, after defeat in Pakistan, a fifth successive victory in the opening Test of an away series was just the tonic. In the city of his birth, Stokes declared himself “very happy”.

He might also have felt relieved: barely 48 hours earlier, England had looked destined for defeat. New Zealand’s high point had come in the last over of the second morning, when Nathan Smith – a bustling seamer who had enjoyed a summer stint with Worcestershire, but had since signed for Surrey – removed fellow debutant Jacob Bethell, then added Root, marking his 150th Test with a duck. At 45-3, England trailed by 303. And that became 71-4 when Duckett departed for an increasingly frantic 46. Had Phillips caught Brook in the gully on 18 off Smith, it would have been 77-5. Instead, his drop set the tone: during an otherwise blistering 171, Brook was put down four more times – on 41, 70, 106 and 147. In all, the New Zealanders missed eight chances, an uncharacteristic show of sloppiness that cost them any hope of victory.

Another obstacle blocked their path. In Pakistan, Carse had been the best seamer on either side, and now he thrived in conditions helpful enough to have persuaded Stokes to bowl. Carse ended Latham’s punchy 47 with a full-length ball that left him, then had Mitchell top-edging a pull to third man in the second over after tea. By the end of a first day on which Williamson celebrated his return from injury with an effortless 93, and Bashir somehow picked up four – including Ravindra, clipping a full toss to short mid-wicket – Carse had two of the eight New Zealanders to fall. But he would remove eight of the remaining 12, finishing with his maiden first-class ten-for, and England’s first overseas since Monty Panesar at Mumbai in 2012/13. “He’s got the heart of a lion,” said Stokes, who had looked out for his Durham team-mate while he served a three-month ban for gambling offences. A beaming Carse returned the compliment: “I cannot thank him enough.”

On a hard-fought opening day, watched by a near-capacity crowd of 8,000, Atkinson had held a superb low return catch to remove Conway in the second over. New Zealand responded with a string of partnerships: 58, 68 and 69 for the next three wickets. Tea came at 193-3. But the hosts grew careless. After Mitchell was suckered by the short ball, Williamson – who had missed the India trip because of a groin injury – came within seven of a comeback century: undone by extra bounce, he chopped Atkinson to gully, falling in the nineties for the first time in six years. Stokes put down a tough chance at mid-off before Phillips had scored, but Blundell slapped Bashir to backward point, and Smith tickled him to leg slip. When Henry launched him to long-on, it was 298-8, and England had claimed the final-session honours. Next morning, Phillips lifted New Zealand to 348, which everyone agreed was about par. That said, 42 extras – including seven no-balls from Atkinson – certainly helped.

Now, under grey skies, and with the strong winds that had buffeted Hagley Park’s oak and plane trees on the first day replaced by an eerie calm, New Zealand’s seamers exploited the best bowling conditions of the match. Crawley was pinned by Henry for a duck and, though Duckett showed off an improved straight-drive, Bethell was hanging on. His selection at No.3 had baffled many: he had batted as high as No.4 in only one of his 20 first-class games, and averaged 25. Yet even as the ball swung more than it had for England, he looked less frenetic than Pope, now in possession of the gloves at No.6 because Jordan Cox had broken his thumb. One over from the sanctuary of lunch, England succumbed: Bethell edged a good one from Smith, who then had Root chopping on fourth ball via his back thigh. The Barmy Army, stationed on the grassy banks behind the bowler’s arm, fell silent.

But the afternoon session brought England 129, and the evening 145 – each for the loss of just one wicket – and their fans rediscovered their voice. When Phillips swooped to his right at backward point like one of the local swallows to send back Pope for 77 – more from one innings than he had managed from five in Pakistan – a sheepish Brook apologised to his departing team-mate. He had just been dropped a third time, by Conway off Phillips at deep midwicket. But their stand of 151 in 31 overs had tipped the balance, and Stokes cut an imposing figure as he walked out at No.7. Brook glided Southee for four to bring up his seventh Test hundred (and sixth abroad), and there was time for one more drop, Latham at cover sparing Stokes on 30 off the luckless Smith. England reached stumps breathing more freely on 319-5.

Next morning, they took control. Brook’s eventual 171 from 197 balls lifted his Test average back above 60, and his overseas average to 89, second only to Bradman’s 102 among those with 500 runs. Stokes contributed a patient 80 in almost four hours, his highest score since the 2023 Ashes. And the knife was twisted by Atkinson and Carse, who between them thrashed 81 off 60 deliveries, with five sixes. The session produced 140 at a run a ball, and a sense that the game was heading in one direction. Not long after lunch, the innings was over at 499. Despite batting for only 12 more overs than New Zealand, England had outscored them by 151.

It left the hosts little margin for error, but Latham edged Woakes low to Brook at second slip, before Conway fluffed a pull off Carse, and was athletically caught by Atkinson at mid-on. When Ravindra pulled Carse to Bethell – briefly dazzled by the sun at deep mid-wicket – it was 64-3. Once more, Williamson held England up, playing the ball improbably late, as he ticked off 9,000 Test runs, his soft hands worth the admission fee alone. Mitchell attacked Bashir, and New Zealand threatened parity.

The breakthrough came from an unexpected source. Woakes’s one and a half winter Tests had brought three for 214, rekindling the debate about his over-reliance on the Dukes. But, with the deficit 18, he nipped one back into Williamson to win an lbw shout from umpire Tucker, then straightened one off the seam to inflict on Blundell a golden duck. When Carse trapped Phillips, New Zealand were six down and just two ahead. Realistically, they had to bat for most of the fourth day to stand any chance, but Carse was not to be denied. In the eighth over of the morning, he exploited a reluctance to get forward by removing Smith and Henry leg-before – a maiden Test five-for, and his first in first-class cricket since April 2021. Stokes pulled out of his fifth over of the morning because of a back twinge, but Root caught Southee in the deep off Atkinson, and it was left to Mitchell to soak up England’s verbals. With the help of the stoic O’Rourke, he dragged the lead into three figures, before eventually becoming Carse’s sixth victim, caught at long-off for 84. England needed 104.

The sun had come out, and the pitch nodded off. Not even the early loss of Crawley, caught and bowled by Henry to reduce his average against New Zealand to single figures, could knock them off their stride. Duckett slogged 27 off 18, and Bethell showed off some purer strokeplay, easing Smith for four fours in five balls. Root took three in a row off O’Rourke – dab, cut, pull – then helped him over fine leg. Bethell pulled Smith for six more to bring up the hundred from the first delivery of the 13th over, levelled the scores with a late cut for two, then completed victory – and a 37-ball half-century – with a single. No Test team had ever disposed of a three-figure target at a quicker run-rate than England’s 8.21. Perhaps the greatest compliment to Bazball was that it all felt so unremarkable.

Player of the match: BA Carse.

Second Test at Wellington, December 6-8, 2024

Andrew Alderson

England won by 323 runs. England 12pts. Toss: New Zealand.

Years from now, when members of this New Zealand team head for the dance floor at a wedding or a birthday party, they may shudder slightly if the DJ plays Boney M’s “Daddy Cool”. The song haunted them at the Basin Reserve, where England’s Barmy Army and their ubiquitous trumpet belted out the tune as Brook took command of the second Test – and the series.

The alternative lyrics (“Harry, Harry Brook… Harry, Harry Brook”) reverberated around the grass embankments as he set upon the New Zealand attack on the first morning, having reached the crease at 26-3. A chaotic start had included a lofted straight-drive from Crawley off Southee – only the second time the opening over of a Test had included a six, after West Indies’ Chris Gayle hit two off Bangladesh spinner Sohag Gazi at Mirpur in 2012-13. But Crawley fell to Henry, who had already removed Duckett for nought, and Root carved Smith to first slip, where Mitchell held a screamer. Soon after Brook’s arrival, Bethell was caught down the leg side off Smith: 43-4. On a pitch of customary emerald, Latham’s decision to bowl – the 17th such choice in a row in Wellington Tests – had been vindicated.

Yet Brook might have been batting on a straw-coloured belter. He cut backward of point, pulled through square leg, and blazed down the ground. Advancing at the bowlers in a bid to hit them off the length that had undone his team-mates, he launched five sixes, two out of the ground: the first, over extra cover off Smith, was last seen bobbling down Cambridge Terrace; the other, off Phillips, looked set to hitch-hike from the Basin Reserve roundabout. Brook rated his eventual 115-ball 123 – his eighth Test century, seventh abroad, and third against New Zealand – as his best. “The pitch was doing quite a bit,” he said. “The best mode of defence for me was attack, and thankfully it came off.” An admiring Smith summed up the bowlers’ task: “He tried to hit us off our lengths by using his feet – and played some ridiculous shots.”

Smith eventually ran him out in the last over before tea, swerving into the leg side in his follow-through as Brook wandered out of his crease; it seemed his most likely mode of dismissal. By then he had transformed the day, putting on 174 in 26.2 overs with the forceful Pope, who – as in Christchurch – played second fiddle perfectly. The wicket of Brook was the first of six to fall for 63, but England’s 280, made at more than five an over, still represented a recovery. And with two hours of the day to go, their bowlers had a chance to inflict damage before the close.

The New Zealand batters succumbed either to their own trepidation, or to England’s accuracy: from 53-1, they crumbled to 86-5 by stumps. Latham chopped on, looking to work Stokes behind point, and Ravindra was cramped by Woakes, an inside edge ballooning off his pad to short square leg, where Carse dived at full stretch to hold on. Mitchell tickled a fired-up Carse down the leg side to Pope, but the key wicket had already been and gone. Williamson, so often New Zealand’s bellwether, had been bowled on 20 by a beauty from Carse, only for replays to reveal the tightest of no-balls. Seventeen runs later, Williamson nicked a jagging delivery – again from Carse. A day of 366 runs and 15 wickets had begun as New Zealand’s, and ended emphatically as England’s.

Next morning, a Saturday sell-out for the ground’s only Test of the home summer saw queues extend from the CS Dempster Gate, along the strip between Kent and Cambridge Terraces, and as far as the eye could see. Well before the close, many home spectators had packed up their chilly bins, and trudged back into town. Carse took his spell either side of stumps to four for 13 in five overs, bowling Blundell with one that did just enough to beat the edge and hit off, and two deliveries later pinning nightwatchman O’Rourke lbw for a 26-ball duck. Atkinson then finished off the innings in style, completing England’s first Test hat-trick since Moeen Ali against South Africa at The Oval in 2017. Smith played on, Henry fended to gully, and Southee – expecting a bouncer – was trapped by a fuller delivery. “I went for the bluff,” deadpanned Atkinson. There had now been three Test hat-tricks in New Zealand, all by Englishmen – after Maurice Allom at Christchurch in 1929/30, and Ryan Sidebottom at Hamilton in 2007/08. New Zealand were all out for 125, having lost their last nine for 72 in 20 overs; only Williamson passed 17. Early on the second day, and just 24 hours after England’s top order had folded, the tourists led by 155 – four more than in the first Test.

After Crawley had clipped to mid-wicket – Henry had now removed him four times in the series without conceding a run – Duckett and Bethell powered England into an unassailable position with a stand of 187. The composed Bethell pulled two sixes off Smith, launched Phillips over long-on, and had come within four of a maiden century in only his second Test when he drove loosely at Southee. Duckett also fell to Southee in the nineties, chopping on. By tea, England had 215-3, and led by 370: five sessions in, the game was over as a contest. After the break, Brook helped himself to a fifty, Stokes battered two of his first six balls over the ropes, and the more leisurely Root closed on 73. England had thrashed 378-5 in 76 overs.

They batted into the third day, giving the bowlers extra rest. Perhaps Stokes also had in mind their previous Test here, in February 2023, when New Zealand wriggled free after following on, and won by a single run. Root brought up his 36th Test century – drawing level on the all-time list with fifth-placed Rahul Dravid – with a daring reverse ramp for four off the luckless O’Rourke, and rejoiced as happily as he had for any of the previous 35. It was his sixth hundred of the year, equalling the England record he already shared with Denis Compton, Michael Vaughan and Jonny Bairstow. And though he fell moments later for 106, ending a stand of 100 in 13.2 overs with the frenetic Stokes, New Zealand were demoralised.

His dismissal triggered the declaration, half an hour into the day, at 427 for six, made at a rate of 5.17. The innings, lasting 82.3 overs, was the second-longest in a Test without a maiden (at Durban in 1938/39, South Africa had bowled 88.5 maidenless eight-ball overs to England). New Zealand had to chase a fantastical 583 to keep the series alive. Thanks to Woakes and Carse, they were 59 for four before anyone picked up their lunchtime cutlery.

England added two more wickets before tea, Atkinson finding swing to remove Mitchell, and Bashir picking up his first of the match, bowling Phillips with a quicker off-break. But Blundell, missed by Bethell – a tough chance at third slip – off Carse before he had scored, offered a glimpse of his sparkling best, marching to 115 off 102 balls, and regularly hitting Bashir over the sightscreen towards Wellington College, his alma mater, across the road. With Smith landing a few blows of his own, 96 flowed for the seventh wicket in 13.3 overs. But Bashir – asked to bowl into a fierce nor’wester – had the last laugh. As Blundell set himself for a scoop, Duckett at slip read the situation: he moved behind the wicketkeeper, parried the ball with his left hand, then caught it on the rebound.

Stokes cleaned up the rest with three in 11 balls and, at about 4.45 on the third afternoon, England were celebrating their first series win in New Zealand for 16 years. Ever since Brook and Pope had joined forces on the first morning, they had been courageous, exerting an almost hypnotic power over their opponents. For New Zealand, who had lost to Australia in March, a fourth straight home defeat was their worst sequence since 1956. The margin, meanwhile, was their heaviest at home in terms of runs, surpassing 299 against Pakistan at Auckland in 2000/01. Barely a month after their historic 3-0 win in India, they were facing the possibility of being whitewashed themselves.

Player of the match: HC Brook.

Third Test at Hamilton, December 14-17, 2024

Stephan Shemilt

New Zealand won by 423 runs. New Zealand 12pts. Toss: England.

With the series decided, there remained the question of how to end well. In advance, both sides were struggling for an answer. Southee had been so ineffective that there were doubts he would be given the chance to say goodbye on his home ground. England, meanwhile, had developed a habit of stumbling over the line: of their four series-ending Tests in 2024, they had lost three. A bit of golf since Wellington, and only one training day before this game, did not suggest a likely improvement.

The Southee question was resolved in his favour, and one end of Seddon Park temporarily renamed in his honour; the other played host to a statue of a strange-looking beast, apparently a nod to his “Sexy Camel” nickname. Joining him in the New Zealand team were two returning heroes from their triumph in India, Young and Santner; Devon Conway was on paternity leave, and seamer Nathan Smith unlucky to be left out. England gave Potts his first game of the tour, in place of Chris Woakes. Stokes admitted part of the reasoning was his team’s 2-0 lead, another clue to their approach.

By the end, Southee had headed into retirement with a victory, leading his team off clutching a stump; Richard Hadlee, the only man with more Test wickets for New Zealand, paid tribute on the outfield. England had received a shellacking. During the build-up, Stokes had dismissed the notion of being “ruthless” – a word he said he disliked. On this evidence, they preferred “careless”. His decision to field was in keeping with Hamilton’s trend, even if he conceded it was made on the spur of the moment. Given the performances of Santner, O’Rourke and Williamson, allied to England’s collective malaise, it probably made no difference.

Potts at least brought energy to a leggy-looking attack, with Carse – suffering from blisters on his left foot – lacking the edge that had made him their bowler of the winter. Latham and Young put on 105 for the first wicket, riches after the highest opening stand in the first two Tests from either side had been 18. But Atkinson had Young caught at second slip, and Potts strangled Latham down leg. After tea, he removed Williamson for the fourth time in his three Tests against him, the ball bouncing back on to the stumps, as Williamson – who had pushed forward with typically soft hands – tried to intercept it with his right boot. England chipped away and, when Blundell slashed Carse high to cover, New Zealand were 231-7.

Now Santner made his presence felt. As England got carried away with the short ball, he swiped his way to a half-century, brought up from the day’s last delivery with a straight six off Potts. In between, Southee – who began the game with 95 Test sixes – cleared the ropes three times in six balls, and a close-of-play score of 315-9 felt like honours even. Next morning, despite being confronted by nine fielders on the boundary, Santner skilfully oversaw the addition of 44 for the last wicket with O’Rourke. If the scoreboard did not run away from England, the balance of power had tilted.

Crawley took four fours from Southee’s first over, only for Henry to quickly despatch the openers. But it was O’Rourke, born in Kingston-upon-Thames, who set the Test on its true course. In the space of eight balls from the Southee End, he suckered Bethell into a loose drive, found lavish seam movement to have Brook playing on first ball, then cramped Root – who had overtaken Javed Miandad’s total of 928 to become the leading Test run-scorer among visiting batsmen in New Zealand – into a cut to gully. Pope and Stokes put on 52 but, from 134 for five, the last five fell for nine – three to Santner, who took his best figures at home (and improved on them two days later). The innings lasted 35.4 overs. A deficit of 204 was the largest England had conceded in the Bazball era.

A full day for O’Rourke was completed by a second stint with the bat, this time as nightwatchman after Young had pulled Stokes to midwicket. When Stokes then had O’Rourke caught behind, Ravindra – the man he was protecting – arrived to a flea in his ear from England, which was mildly ridiculous given their position in the match.

Monday morning was washed out, delaying what felt like a guaranteed Williamson century, a seventh on his home ground. At times, he seemed the only grown-up in the room, as he became the first to score a century in five successive Tests at one ground, and New Zealand extended their lead to an almost comical 657. Each time a wicket fell, the home spectators chanted for Southee, and booed when he failed to appear. Even his old team-mate Brendon McCullum, sitting in front of the England dressing-room, got involved. (When Southee finally emerged, at No.10, he was caught at long-on for two.) Brook bowled with the second new ball, and Bethell burgled his first three Test wickets with his left-arm spin. It all had the air of a benefit match rather than an international.

But things had long taken a serious turn for England, when Stokes limped off in his third over of the day, clutching his left hamstring, which had caused him to miss four Tests between August and October. He had spent the tour sounding buoyant about his fitness, but the 23 overs he bowled on the first day – when he ignored Bashir altogether – were his most in a day’s Test cricket, and his 36.2 in the match his most since June 2022. The injury raised questions about what he and England could reasonably expect from him as an all-rounder.

Faced with a mountainous target, England had to negotiate six overs on the third evening, not to mention two days after that. Instead, they batted as if time was short. Duckett’s ugly drag-on off Southee in the second over might have been described as the worst of Bazball, had Pope not been bowled next day trying to reverse-scoop Henry. Before that, though, Henry completed his Broad-to-Warner torture of Crawley, with a full house of six dismissals in six innings: leg-before to a ball that DRS had shaving leg stump, Crawley gave umpire Adrian Holdstock a mouthful as he departed. His series average of 8.66 was the lowest by England opener playing at least six innings; Geoff Cook had averaged nine in the 1982/83 Ashes.

The fourth day was a formality, though Bethell used it to further his case as the coming man. O’Rourke switched ends to produce another terrifying spell, full of bounce and hostility; he deserved more than one wicket. Bethell looked better equipped for the challenge than Brook or Root, the world’s two top-ranked batters. Root was struck a painful blow, and soon after – on 54 – missed a sweep against Santner, ending a stand of 104 with Bethell. Brook fell for one: of the four balls O’Rourke bowled to him in the match, he had been dismissed by two. That both were rising deliveries around off stump, the second a snorter fended to slip, would not have gone unnoticed in Australia. Brook’s reign at No.1 had lasted a week.

Bethell ducked and dived, yet still attacked. One limbo dance of a sway, eyes on the ball and knees on the ground, might have been Andrew Strauss facing up to Morne Morkel. But, having negotiated O’Rourke, he ran at the first ball of a new Southee spell, and sliced to deep point – Southee’s 391st, and last, Test wicket.

Perhaps aware the younger model had turned heads, Pope played the shot of a desperate man, and England’s unravelling of four for 19 – Stokes, hamstring strapped, did not bat – meant Southee was not required to bowl after lunch. It added up to New Zealand’s biggest victory by runs against anyone (they had also beaten Sri Lanka by 423, at Christchurch in 2018/19). Southee took the adulation, and said goodbye. When the ground emptied, the players gathered, and McCullum led a presentation to his old friend. It was the only ending England got right.

Player of the match: MJ Santner.
Player of the series: HC Brook.

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