Brilliant Bairstow batters New Zealand into submission
Brilliant Bairstow smashes century off just 77 balls to destroy the Kiwis
It does not get any better than this for England. A sensational victory in front of a packed trent Bridge crowd getting amazing value for money they did not even have to spend.
What a treat those supporters allowed in for free had. What a performance they saw from Jonny Bairstow with one of the quickest and most dazzling test hundreds of all time.
the miracle of Headingley? this was even more incredible in so many ways because it has come, along with last week’s victory at Lord’s, so rapidly after a run of one win in 17 tests that brought England to their knees.
At the centre of it, just as in Leeds against Australia in 2019, was a new captain in Ben Stokes, who has joined Brendon McCullum in transforming, in just two games, an England side devoid of all belief and languishing at the bottom of the World test Championship.
there were buckets of self-belief and confidence here, particularly when England lost their fourth wicket for 93 chasing 299 in 72 overs for victory and the odds switched to a series-levelling New Zealand win or at the very least a draw.
Not a bit of it. Stokes joined Bairstow, under pressure for his place yet again from the coming man in Harry Brook, and simply stormed England to victory with dizzying shenanigans that can rarely have been seen in any test match.
this second test was very much in the balance ahead of the final session of a glorious and scintillating five days, with England still needing 160 off 38 overs for a second victory in successive games and their first series win in 18 months.
It looked a tricky task at best but whatever was said or eaten at tea clearly galvanised Bairstow as he produced the innings of his life and came within a whisker of breaking a record that has lasted 120 years.
Bairstow simply destroyed what remained of a formidable New Zealand attack despite the loss of Kyle Jamieson to injury, 102 runs coming from the first nine overs after tea and the Yorkshireman smashing 93 from 44 post-tea deliveries as sixes flew left right and centre into the trent Bridge stands.
It looked certain Bairstow would reach his ninth test century quicker than Gilbert Jessop’s England record of 76 balls, made in 1902 without a single six, but he defended two balls before guiding tim Southee for three through the covers off his 77th delivery. Bairstow raced towards the England dressing room, leaping and punching the air as he went, before looking to the heavens as he always does to remember his late father David. ‘He enjoyed that one Jonny,’ said Mark Butcher on Sky with a perfect piece of commentary. ‘We all did.’
then came a reminder from his captain that the job was not yet done but it soon was, even though Bairstow fell, for 136 off 92 balls, with 27 still needed and New Zealand almost through to England’s vulnerable tail.
Ben Foakes joined Stokes as victory came with fully 22 overs to spare, even though there were the minor scares of Stokes almost being run out with 21 needed and then Foakes being missed by Michael Bracewell, the 12th drop of the test, with 14 required. Goodness, it was so comfortable that England could conceivably have chased 400.
Fittingly, it was Stokes, seemingly hampered by a long-standing left knee issue that was never going to stop him, who hit the winning runs, crashing Boult to the cover boundary and raising his arms aloft after finishing unbeaten on 75 off just 70 balls. the new captain had reached his half century with one of his four sixes and had maintained the perfect attacking tempo and composure throughout his time at the crease but this final day belonged to Bairstow.
When Bairstow made two low scores at Lord’s playing shots as if he were still in the IPL rather than a test, there were plenty of people questioning his place in the side even though he made two centuries during England’s latest winter of discontent.
Stokes was not among them, making a point of praising Bairstow both after the win at Lord’s and ahead of this game, backing his player as England are clearly going to always do in what has already become an exciting and highly promising new era. How Bairstow repaid him here, still playing those white-ball shots but executing them brilliantly and thrillingly.
New Zealand did not know what hit them. they had made England’s task look all the harder when Daryl Mitchell and trent Boult added 35 for the last wicket off just 32 balls, Boult making 17 of them and causing Stokes to rue delaying taking the second new ball.
When it was finally in the hands of Jimmy Anderson and Boult holed out to Stokes, England needed one short of 300 and had to make the highest winning score in trent Bridge test history.
But they said they would chase anything and, far from daunted, Alex Lees set off as his hero Matthew Hayden would have done, the Volvo as he described himself compared to England’s super cars, no more.
Zak Crawley again fell to the excellent Boult and when the first innings century makers Ollie Pope and Joe Root went within five balls of each other silence descended on trent Bridge. Lees followed them six short of his half century and the old England would surely have buckled. Not this one. this England are a completely different, dynamic outfit already promoting and coming to the rescue of test cricket as McCullum promised they would.
What a start the management team of Stokes and McCullum and the man who appointed them in Rob Key have made. What a test this was, England conceding 553 after putting New Zealand in to bat yet still romping home in a match that saw the most boundaries, 226 fours and 24 sixes, in any test. And the fans are already enjoying it just as much as the England players clearly are. Baz-ball promises to provide quite a ride.