A TON OF FUN!
++ Inspired England chase down 299 to stun Kiwis ++ It rains sixes as brilliant Bairstow crunches century from just 77 balls ++ Skipper Stokes revels in his greatest day
BEN STOKES hailed the greatest day of his sporting life after a thunderous century from Jonny Bairstow swept England to an astonishing win over New Zealand in the second Test in Nottingham.
Bairstow crashed 136 off 92 balls, and Stokes 75 not out from 70, as England chased down a target of 299 in just 50 overs with five wickets to spare.
It means they go to Headingley for next week’s third Test aiming for a 3-0 whitewash of the world champions. For
FEAR OF FAILURE HAS VANISHED OVERNIGHT NASSER HUSSAIN: PAGE 72
Stokes, the events of a raucous day at Trent Bridge — where a capacity crowd of 17,500 were allowed in for free — surpassed even his two career- defining performances of 2019.
‘That blows away Headingley, it blows away Lord’s and the World Cup final,’ he said. ‘Just emotionally, and the enjoyment of every minute I had on that field, it was incredible. The sky’s the limit for this « group of players, but we could probably go
further than that.’ The damage was done during a murderous spell after tea, when Bairstow and Stokes took New Zealand’s bowlers to the cleaners, extending their fifth-wicket stand to 179 in just 20.1 overs. Bairstow hit seven sixes and Stokes four.
‘The message was, just run into the fear of where the game was, rather than stand still or back away from it,’ said England’s captain, who tweaked his left knee during the chase but said he was fine ahead of the third Test at Headingley, which begins in eight days’ time.
‘It was pretty much, “We’re either winning this game or losing it” — that’s the mentality we wanted all the batters to have. It paid off.
‘He had his Jonny Eyes on, and when he gets those eyes on you know you’re on to something. ‘That was one of the best things I’ve ever seen, to do it in the fourth innings, chasing a big total, with the game in the balance — to play the way he did once he got past 50 was just mind-blowing. It was phenomenal to watch.’ Asked about his ‘Jonny Eyes’, Bairstow said: ‘I’ll take that as a compliment and it’s not the first time it’s been mentioned. I’m hugely proud of the way I went about it, hugely proud of the fact that on day five we have come together as a group and won a Test for England. ‘Stokesy said, “Don’t even think about hitting the ball down — just keep trying to plant it in the stands”. So I was just doing what the captain said.
‘It’s an exciting start to an exciting journey that we’re all on together with Ben and (coach) Brendon McCullum. There isn’t a challenge that’s too much. There isn’t anything we can’t do. There wasn’t a thought about drawing that game. We were winning it.’ Shellshocked New Zealand captain Tom Latham said his team were feeling ‘pretty raw’. He added: ‘The guys will take a little bit of time for it to sink in. We believed we were in the game with 300 on the board but you have to take your hat off to Jonny.’
There was more bad news for the tourists when it emerged fast bowler Kyle Jamieson would be flying home because of a lower back injury. Jamieson bowled only 16.3 overs in England’s first innings before leaving the field.