Bairstow, Stokes star in England's remarkable Test series win over New Zealand

England have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3-match Test series against New Zealand after beating the visitors in the second Test by 5 wickets at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.

Jonny Bairstow and skipper Ben Stokes scored 136 & 75* runs respectively in the 299-run chase to help England win in dramatic fashion. Bairstow took just 77 balls to smash the 9th Test century of his career. Bairstow's hundred was the second-fastest fourth-innings hundred in Test cricket and the second quickest by an Englishman in Tests.

Bairstow and Stokes added 179 runs for the fifth wicket. New Zealand posted 553 runs in 1st innings but after Joe Root's brilliant 176-run knock, England registered 539 runs. The visitors were bundled out for 284 runs in the second innings, which meant that England needed 299 runs to win and they successfully chased it down.

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This was England's highest successful chase in Tests at Trent Bridge and also the fifth-highest for the Three Lions, the third-highest chase by any team against the Kiwis.

This win is remarkable for the England Test team as they had won just one match in the last 17 outings before the start of this series and hadn't won a series since 2021. Also, this is Ben Stokes' first Test series as captain and Former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum's first series as England's new Test head coach.

The final Test between England and New Zealand will be played at Headingley from June 23.

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