England beat New Zealand to seal series

England romped to a second comfortable victory over New Zealand in two weeks to secure a Test series triumph on Sunday with skipper Ben Stokes apparently enjoying a Midas touch with his every decision turning to gold.

Stokes delivered the coup de grace at Basin Reserve himself, coming on to take the last three wickets at a cost of five runs to dismiss New Zealand for 259 and wrap up the 323-run victory with more than two days to spare.

Seamers Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson all played crucial roles in the victory, the latter with a rare hat-trick on Saturday to help scuttle New Zealand’s first innings for 125.

Shoaib Bashir stepped up to remove Tom Blundell after the New Zealand wicketkeeper had marshalled the home rearguard with a defiant 115 on a surface that rarely offers anything for spinners this early in the season.

Earlier, Joe Root scored his 36th Test century.

The third Test in Hamilton starts on Saturday.