NZ vs ENG

That is all from the action here as England take an unassailable 2-0 lead in this 3-match series. One test match to go which will start on the 14th at Hamilton. England will look for a historic clean sweep and New Zeland will play for some respect and WTC points and also for one of their stalwart Tim Southee who will be playing his final match. For now, this is Sourabh signing off on behalf of Karthik Raj and the rest of the team at Sportskeeda. Hope you enjoyed the coverage, see you soon!

Ben Stokes (England captain): Amazing to be stood here. Specially being 40/4 on Day 1. The way that Brook and Pope played set the game for us on Day 1. It was doing a lot on Day 1. Brook was phenomenal, put them under pressure, he played the same ball over different areas. We do not give instructions to guys as to how to play. (on Bethell's 96) Another young lad who has impressed, we back everyone's ability. Putting the pressure back on them was really important. Because of him we got such a big lead. 560 is always going to be a lot of runs, there was always going to be pressure on them. But the first spell from Woakes, 5 overs for 5 runs was simply amazing. I though Bashir did an incredible job today for the team bowling into that incredible wind. We have got one more test match still, do not want to risk anybody. We will see what happens in Hamilton

Tom Latham (New Zeland captain): Obviously hurting, disappointing to lose in that fashion. In the first innings they put us under pressure, Harry played a fabulous innings but 120 in the first innings was simply not our best. Credit where it is due, it was a fantastic innings, it was one guy (Brook) who took it away from us. He played some outstanding shots and put us under pressure. The guys tried really hard , we had a few ideas, we wanted to put in some big partnerships today but that did not happen. They have put us under pressure, they have put the foot on our throat and we have not been able to recover. We will turn up there (in Hamilton) and look to win the test match as we always do. It will be a great occasion with Tim's(Southee) last match.

Harry Brook (Player of the Match): "(Whether he still thinks the century in the first innings was his best Test ton) Yeah, just the circumstances of the game and the position we were in, was happy with it. (About taking on the bowlers) It depends on the surface as well, the bowlers were getting a lot out of it. Its difficult to just block it. As some say, attack is the best way of defense. It was extremely windy today, hard toil for the bowlers who were exceptional. It is always amazing win series'. Watch the ball, play on its merit and see where we are."

16:49 Local Time (09:19 IST): England win by 323 runs and take an unassailable 2-0 lead

Harry Brook 123 & 55 | Brydon Carse 4/46 & 2/53
Tom Blundell 16 & 115 | Matt Henry 2/43 & 2/100

First test series win for England in New Zeland since 2008. Test Cricket, you beauty! New Zeland did the unthinkable just over a month ago by clean sweeping India in India and here they have been handed a series loss by England on their home soil, in fact they have been completely outplayed in this one and have been convincingly defeated in 2 and a half days.

Largest victory for England over New Zeland and largest defeat for New Zeland on home soil. This has been an absolute hammering handed over to the Kiwis by the English team who have outplayed the home team in all the three departments.

It was Harry Brook's spectacular counter-attacking 123 in the first innings on Day 1, his second in the series, which took England out of a hole at 43/4 and took them to 280. England bowlers then did their job against an underconfident Kiwi batting line-up and dismissed them for a cheap score of 125 with Atkinson getting a hat-trick to end the innings as him and Carse shared 4 apiece. 

England had a big lead before the start of the second innings and they cashed in on it big time. They went even bigger this time around with spectacular 90s from Duckett and Bethell, the foundation was laid. And then, even more damage was done as Root got his first big score of the series, a century for him as England set a mammoth target of 583 for New Zeland to chase.

New Zeland's top-order was blown away yet again against the new ball, this time the spoils shared by the England seamers and they were reduced to 59/4. That was when Tom Blundell arrived and after being dropped on 0, played a breathtaking innings on his way to a century amidst contributions from Mitchell and Smith. However, that was never going to be enough and soon he fell to Bashir and then skipper Stokes came in and polished the tail to secure the test match and the series for England.

54.2 Ben Stokes to Tim Southee, STOKES WRAPS IT UP! ENGLAND WIN BY 323 RUNS! Short and angling in, Southee makes room and goes for the pull shot but he doesn't get a sweet connection. Chris Woakes back-tracks from mid-wicket and takes a nice catch as New Zealand are all-out for 259. With this, England get an unassailable lead of 2-0 with one Test left in this series.

Tim Southee c Chris Woakes b Ben Stokes 8(13b, 1x4, 0x6).

54.1 Ben Stokes to William O'Rourke, TOP-EDGED BUT SAFE! Short and angling in, O'Rourke backs away and tries to pull while he top-edges it over mid-wicket. Single taken.

Southee manages to get out of that over with a boundary and a few attempted big hits. He plays only one way and can really do nothing else in a situation like this

53.5 Shoaib Bashir to Tim Southee, FOUR! Full outside-off, Southee comes down the track and swings it between deep mid-wicket and long-on for a boundary.

53.4 Shoaib Bashir to Tim Southee, turning in from a length, Southee has a big heave but he can only get an inside-edge onto the thigh. The ball falls wide of the slip fielder. 

52.6 Ben Stokes to William O'Rourke, HOW DID THAT MISS THE STUMP? Full outside-off, O'Rourke looks to defend from the crease but he misses. The ball just about evades the off-stump on the way to the keeper.