Ben Stokes praised his side’s “unbelievable bravery” after England hammered New Zealand in Wellington to claim an overdue series win on the road.
Less than two years on from an agonising one-run defeat at Basin Reserve, England returned to the scene and swept aside the Black Caps by a thumping margin of 323 in the second Test.
At 2-0 up with one to play in Hamilton next week, Stokes’ men are back up and running away from home after losing two and drawing one of their three overseas assignments in the past two years.
And while the scorecard suggests it was a walk in the park, things looked very different when England were 43 for four in the first hour of the match.
Faced with adversity they produced a staggering turnaround. Player-of-the-match Harry Brook conjured a scintillating 123, Gus Atkinson claimed England’s first Test hat-trick in seven years and Joe Root checked off his sixth century of 2024, as the milestones kept coming.
“From 40-odd for four on day one, to be sat here on the winning side halfway through day three is pretty special,” said Stokes, highlighting a stand of 174 between Brook and Ollie Pope as the turning point.
“We’ve played dominant cricket. There was a great example on day one from Harry and Ollie, they played with unbelievable bravery and backed their own ability, but you also need to have the skill to play like those two did.
“In cricket terms, that pitch was what we call a snakepit… it was doing plenty. Brooky is just phenomenal. No-one has a right to go out and score 120 on that wicket, against the attack that New Zealand have. There are only a few players in the world who could go out and play like he did and I’m glad he’s in our team.”
The victory, England’s first in this country since 2008, was Stokes’ 19th as England captain in his 31st match. That nudges him just ahead of the revered Mike Brearley in terms of win percentage, with the mastermind of the 1981 Ashes winning 18 of his 31 games at the helm.
You’ve got a young lad with so much potential and so much talent, why not let him go out there and expose himself to Test cricket at its toughest?
Invited to bask in that particularly statistic, Stokes offered a one-word response: “Sweet.”
He was happier to deflect the praise to his players, taking particular satisfaction in the efforts of 21-year-old Jacob Bethell. Having hit 50 not out to seal victory in Christchurch, he made 96 in the second innings here falling desperately short of his first century in professional cricket.
There was some scepticism over his promotion to such a pivotal position given his slender CV, but Stokes felt fully vindicated.
“I know there was a bit made of Beth batting at three with his inexperience and lack of first-class cricket,” he said.
“It was ‘should we bat him lower down and ease him into the trials and tribulations of Test cricket?’. But me and Baz (head coach Brendon McCullum) don’t think like that. You’ve got a young lad with so much potential and so much talent, why not let him go out there and expose himself to Test cricket at its toughest?
“As a young lad I was devastated for him to not get three figures. I walked in and said to him, ‘it’s only four runs, isn’t it?’ and his response was ‘Yeah, but it would have been flair if I smacked that through the covers to bring it up.’ That’s class. I think he’s proved a lot to a lot of people.”
Stokes also marvelled at the audacity of Root, who brought up his 36th Test hundred with a reverse ramp over the wicketkeeper off pace bowler Will O’Rourke.
“I thought it was amazing… to scoop a 6ft 9in giant who was bowling rockets. It came off and it was awesome,” he said.
England’s early win bought them a couple of extra days off before they head to Hamilton, looking to sign off for the year with a 3-0 whitewash.
