Jonny Bairstow on Tuesday posted the second-fastest century for his country in test cricket. On the final day of the second Test at Trent Bridge on Tuesday, Bairstow blasted England to a five-wicket victory against New Zealand, helping the home team win a series for the first time since January 2021.
England chased down 299 in just 50 overs, courtesy of Jonny Bairstow’s power pack performance as the star batter just took 77 balls to reach the ninth Test century of his career. However, Bairstow narrowly missed hitting England’s fastest Test hundred, taking one more delivery than Gilbert Jessop, who scored a 76-ball hundred against Australia in 1902.
Chasing the target of 299 in nearly 70 overs, team England did the unthinkable thing and played a one-day inning to chase the target in just 50 overs.
Earlier, New Zealand posted a mammoth total of 553 courtesy of Daryll Mitchell’s 190 and Tom Blundell’s 106. In reply, England put on a solid show and scored 539 runs, just 14 short of the visitors.
The star of England’s first innings was Ollie Pope and Joe Root, who both scored centuries to help England cross the 500 mark.
New Zealand then walked into the bat for the 2nd innings to set a target for the home side, and with the help of Will Young, Devon Conway, and Daryl Mitchell’s fifties the visitors gave England a 299 runs challenge to chase in nearly 70 overs.
Chasing the target of around 300 is not an easy task for any team in the 4th innings that too on the final day, but England batters especially Jonny Bairstow made the impossible things possible.
However, England faced a rough start when they lost 4 of their main batters at just 93 in 25.3 overs, but Jonny Bairstow (136*) and the skipper Ben Stokes (75) did a 195-run partnership in 121 balls to win a series against the current World Champions.
The third and final test of the series will be played at the Headingley in Leeds from July 23-27.
