England thrash New Zealand by 267 runs in first Test as James Anderson takes four wickets on final day | Cricket News

James Anderson struck four times on the fourth day as England needed less than a session to clinch a thumping 267-run victory over New Zealand in the pink-ball Test at Mount Maunganui.

New Zealand resumed on 63-5 in a chase of 394 after Stuart Broad (4-49) had clean bowled four of their top six during a scorching spell under the lights on Saturday night and the hosts were subsequently bundled out for 126 on Sunday afternoon as England made it 10 wins in 11 Tests under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.

Anderson (4-18) dismissed Scott Kuggeleijn (2) and Black Caps captain Tim Southee (0) from successive balls in the fourth over of the day – Kuggeleijn lbw to a nip-backer, Southee clipping an out-swinger to Joe Root at slip – after Michael Bracewell (25) flicked Jack Leach to Harry Brook at short midwicket in the third.

New Zealand were 91-9 when Anderson ended a near eight-over stint between Daryl Mitchell (57no) and Neil Wagner (9) by nicking off the latter and he then bowled last man Blair Tickner (8) nine overs later to put England 1-0 up in the two-match series ahead of the second Test in Wellington from Friday (Thursday night UK).

England are toasting a first Test victory in New Zealand since 2008, having drawn five matches and suffered two innings defeats across their previous seven fixtures in the country.

The win also snapped a five-match losing streak in day-night Tests with England beaten in Australia three times and New Zealand and India once each since thumping West Indies at home in 2017.

The team that surrendered meekly in their last pink-ball outing, in Hobart in January 2022 as Australia clinched a 4-0 Ashes success, is “unrecognisable”, to use Broad’s word, from the dynamic one now helmed by Stokes and McCullum.

England continue winning run under Stokes and McCullum

The ‘Bazball’ era began with a 3-0 sweep at home to New Zealand in June before victory over India in the rearranged fifth Test at Edgbaston the following month and a 2-1 win over South Africa to close out the English summer.

England then became the first side to win 3-0 in Pakistan and will make it successive away series victories if they avoid defeat in the second Test against New Zealand at Basin Reserve.

Their triumph over the Black Caps at Bay Oval this week featured the hallmarks of new England – blistering batting as they scored at over five runs an over in each innings, and a bold declaration with Stokes calling his side in on 325-9 from 58.2 overs in their first dig so his bowlers could attack New Zealand under the lights.

But it also included the spectacle of Broad hoovering up wickets during a magical spell, something he has done frequently over the years, with his Ashes 8-15, at Trent Bridge in 2015, a notable example.

Broad bowled four of the Black Caps’ top six – Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Tom Latham and Tom Blundell – during a sizzling display on Saturday evening as the hosts plunged to 28-5.

That vaporised any faint hopes New Zealand had of completing their highest successful chase in Test cricket, which remains the 324 they managed against Pakistan in Christchurch in 1994.

Broad’s first wicket also made him and Anderson the most prolific Test bowling partnership as they surpassed Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne’s record of 1,001 in games played together.

Broad and Anderson were up to 1,005 by stumps on day three and 1,009 by the end of a game in which they made history and the Bazball revolution continued.