New Zealand’s win PCT rose to 72.22 while England’s dropped to 24.36.© AFP
New Zealand boosted their chances of qualifying for next year’s World Test Championship final after beating England in the third and final Test in Nottingham on Monday by 160 runs, clinching the series 2-1. Chasing 373 for the win on the final day, England were bowled out for 212 with Zak Foulkes bagging three wickets, while Nathan Smith and Mitchell Santner took two each. The result saw New Zealand and England remain third and seventh, respectively, in the WTC 2025/27 points table.
New Zealand’s win PCT rose to 72.22 while England’s dropped to 24.36. Australia and South Africa remain first and second with a PCT of 87.5 and 75, respectively.
Meanwhile, this was only New Zealand’s fourth Test series win in England.
The New Zealanders’ other series wins on English soil were in 1986, 1999 and in 2021 – the latter being in a two-match series.
England’s final-day hopes realistically rested on Joe Root and Emilio Gay – the remaining specialist batters who resumed from overnight – but they both departed in the fourth over, having walked to the middle with the boundary boards around the ground displaying the message: “Thank you Ben Stokes.”
Gay (10) edged behind and Root, England’s all-time leading run scorer, was brilliantly run out by Henry Nicholls for 18.
A seventh-wicket stand of 75 runs between Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson held up New Zealand’s charge before lunch, before Atkinson (19) was trapped lbw by spinner Mitchell Santner.
The end came 15 minutes into the second session, when Smith was dismissed for 60.
(With AP Inputs)
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