Birmingham: New Zealand overpowered England by eight wickets in the second Test at Edgbaston on Sunday as they sealed a 1-0 series win with more than a day to spare.
Set a target of just 38 after England tailender Olly Stone was out to the very first ball of the fourth day, the Blackcaps finished on 41-2.
Stand-in captain Tom Latham, leading the team in place of the injured Kane Williamson, hit the winning boundary to be 23 not out after the first Test of a two-match series at Lord’s ended in a draw last week.
Victory gave New Zealand just a third win in 18 Test series in England and a first this century after their 1986 and 1999 triumphs.
By contrast, this was England’s first series loss at home since a 2014 defeat by Sri Lanka.
England resumed on the brink of defeat at 122-9 in their second innings, a lead of just 37 runs, after a top-order collapse that had seen them slump to 76-7.
Stone then fell for his overnight 15 when he edged left-arm quick Trent Boult and was caught behind, with James Anderson — in his England record 162nd Test — unbeaten on nought.
But the real damage had been done on Saturday when England’s top-order failed in an innings where fast bowler Mark Wood’s 29 was the top score.
Matt Henry, one of an extraordinary six changes to the New Zealand side that played at Lord’s, took the first three wickets to fall in a return of 3-36, with Neil Wagner following up with 3-18.
Such is the Blackcaps’ strength in depth, however, that either bowler could be replaced by the rested Tim Southee when New Zealand face India in next week’s inaugural World Test Championship final at Southampton.
Brief scores
England 1st Innings 303 (D Lawrence 81 no, R Burns 81; T Boult 4-85, M Henry 3-78)
New Zealand 1st Innings 388 (W Young 82, D Conway 80, R Taylor 80; S Broad 4-48)
England 2nd Innings 122 (N Wagner 3-18, M Henry 3-36)
New Zealand 2nd Innings 41-2
Result: New Zealand won by eight wickets
Series: New Zealand win two-match series 1-0
Karachi: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has been ruled out of the second Test against England at Edgbaston due to his persistent elbow injury.
Opener Tom Latham, the side’s vice-captain, will lead the team in Williamson’s absence. He previously led against Australia at the SCG in January 2020 and West Indies at Wellington in December.
The injury is not expected to rule him out of the World Test Championship final against India, which starts on June 18 at the Ageas Bowl.
“It’s not an easy decision for Kane to have to miss a Test, but we think it’s the right one,” Gary Stead, New Zealand’s head coach, said.
“He’s had an injection in his elbow to relieve the irritation he’s been experiencing when he bats and a period of rest and rehabilitation will help maximise his recovery,” he added.
Williamson will be replaced in the New Zealand side by Will Young, the top-order batter who won both of his Test caps to date in the home series against West Indies in December.
London: England fast bowler Ollie Robinson has been suspended from “all international cricket” after historical racist and sexist tweets came to light earlier this week when he made his test debut against New Zealand, the country’s cricket board (ECB) said on Sunday.
Robinson, 27, was the pick of England’s bowlers in the drawn test with seven wickets in the match and had released a statement on Wednesday apologising for his “thoughtless and irresponsible” tweets.
“England and Sussex bowler Ollie Robinson has been suspended from all international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation following historic tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013,” the ECB said in a statement.
“He will not be available for selection for the second Test against New Zealand starting at Edgbaston on Thursday 10 June. Robinson will leave the England camp immediately and return to his county.”
London: New Zealand’s Devon Conway made exactly 200 on his Test debut before England captain Joe Root helped the hosts recover from a top-order collapse on the second day of the series opener at Lord’s on Thursday.
Opening batsman Conway was last man out in a first-innings total of 378.
England, who slumped to 18-2, ended the day on 111-2, a deficit of 267 runs. Burns was 59 not out and Root unbeaten on 42, with their partnership worth 93 runs.
“I think it’s reasonably evenly poised,” New Zealand paceman Tim Southee, who took 1-17 in 11 overs, told reporters after stumps.
“There’s a little bit there for the bowlers.”
Southee, turning to Conway’s remarkable contribution, added: “It was an incredible innings. He’s a special player, we’ve known that for a little while now.
“He works extremely hard, he’s always willing to learn and continue to ask questions. Everyone’s just extremely proud and pleased for him.”
New Zealand, who resumed on 246-3, looked like they might bat England out of the game while Conway and fellow left-hander Henry Nicholls (61) were sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 174.
But they lost four wickets for just six runs as they slumped from 288-3 to 294-7, with Mark Wood, the fastest member of England’s pace quartet, instigating a collapse when he had Nicholls caught at long leg by Test debutant Ollie Robinson.
Sussex paceman Robinson led England’s attack with 4-75 in 28 overs.
Robinson’s ‘character’ test
It was a fine effort by Robinson, who apologised following stumps on Wednesday after racist and sexist tweets he had posted as a teenager were published again.
“Yesterday was a hard day, it tested his personality and character,” said England batting coach Graham Thorpe of Robinson.
“We have to support him as a player in our team we were really happy with the way he performed today.”.
Assessing the match situation, the former England batsman added: “From where we were this morning, we’re really happy to fight back.
“We said yesterday that New Zealand didn’t get away from us, we didn’t bowl badly so we had to make inroads and 378, we’d have taken that from the position that we were in.”
Earlier, South Africa-born left-hander Conway was in sight of becoming the very first batsman in the 144-year history of Test cricket to carry their bat throughout the entire innings in their first knock in the format when he was run out to end a stay of more than nine-and-a-half hours.
Nevertheless, it needed a review of a close call before it was confirmed Root had taken the bails off in time.
Even so, Conway was only the seventh batsman to make a double hundred on Test debut.
He faced 347 balls, with 22 fours and went to 200 in style when he hooked Wood for a brilliant six.
New Zealand No 11 Neil Wagner, also born in South Africa, made 25 not out that included a superb straight six off Stuart Broad.
New Zealand, who after this two-match series face India in the inaugural World Test Championship final at Southampton later this month, struck with the new ball despite being without left-arm spearhead Trent Boult, who had been on family leave following a stint in the Indian Premier League.
Towering paceman Kyle Jamieson had Dom Sibley lbw for a duck on ‘umpire’s call’ after a review.
But there was no doubt when Zak Crawley was caught behind off Southee for two.
Burns and Root, however, then held firm in an often attritional stand, although left-hander Burns did go to fifty in 90 balls.