ESPNcricinfo
Set 299 from a minimum of 72 overs to win the second Test and take an unassailable 2-0 series lead, England mowed down the target thanks to an incredible onslaught from Jonny Bairstow after the tea break on the final day at Trent Bridge.
A capacity crowd, granted free entry by Nottinghamshire CCC, were treated to a jaw-dropping display as Bairstow blazed his way to 136 off 92 balls, which included 14 fours and seven sixes, his 77-ball hundred falling just one ball shy of England’s 120-year-old record for their fastest Test century.
Following Bairstow’s dismissal, Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes saw their side home inside 50 overs, the highest successful Test chase at Trent Bridge. Stokes remained unbeaten at the close with 75 off 70, his 179-run stand with Bairstow for the fifth-wicket stand off 20.1 overs at 8.87 was the third-fastest century stand in Tests, in terms of run rate.
Resuming after the interval with 160 runs still needed from 38 overs, Bairstow – unbeaten on 43 – led a brutal assault as Matt Henry’s short-ball tactics came to grief. Bairstow brought up fifty with back-to-back fours off Henry in the first over, which went for 13 runs in all, and he didn’t let up, lofting Trent Boult for six over long-off in the next, which also went for 13 to put England ahead of the required run rate. Two more maximums to Bairstow off Henry’s following over meant England had added 43 runs off three overs.
With Kyle Jamieson, the pick of New Zealand’s bowlers during their five-wicket defeat in the first Test at Lord’s, unable to bowl after breaking down with lower back pain on the third evening of this game, the visitors began to look bereft of ideas in a hurry.
Stokes appeared to twist his knee lunging forward to a Henry delivery with Bairstow approaching the nineties but he forged on despite appearing to be in clear discomfort. When Bairstow brought up his ninth Test century steering Tim Southee through backward point and shouting “yes, yes, yes” as he called his batting partner through, they ran three.
As Bairstow’s attack on the boundary continued, Stokes did not need to worry about running so much and he launched into a power game of his own, bringing up his fifty off 55 balls with a six down the ground off Southee, at which point England needed 50 runs off 28 overs. Stokes then muscled spinner Michael Bracewell into the back of the second tier of the stand over long-on.
By the time Bairstow was caught behind off a bottom edge to Boult, England needed just 27 runs. There one more moment of drama when Foakes was dropped by Bracewell at cover with 14 needed before Stokes struck the winning runs with a blistering cut for four off Boult.
While Bairstow is not new to the Test side or even an aggressive playing style, all the talk of a “positive” approach from this team under Stokes as captain and Brendon McCullum as new head coach made this feel like laying down a marker as England moved from one win in 17 Tests to to two in two. In eight innings since his century in the first Test against West Indies in March, Bairstow had failed to pass 30 but he rediscovered his form when his side needed it most.
Summarized scores: England 539 (Root 176, Pope 145, Lees 67, Foakes 56, Boult 5-106) and 299 for 5 (Bairstow 136, Stokes 75*, Lees 44) beat New Zealand 553 (Mitchell 190, Blundell 106, Anderson 3-62) and 284 (Mitchell 62*, Young 56, Conway 52, Broad 3-70) by five wickets