England secured their first away series in two years with a 323-run rout of New Zealand, Joe Root marking the occasion with a 36th Test century.The tourists followed up their eight-wicket success in Christchurch with a three-day thrashing in Wellington,

England beat New Zealand by 323 runs after tea on the third day of the second test in Wellington on Sunday to secure an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Consecutive Test defeats for New Zealand at home. They lost the two-match series against Australia 2-0 before their back-to-back defeats to England. It had happened only once before, when New Zealand suffered five consecutive Test defeats at home between 1955 and 1956.

Sweet” said Ben Stokes when told he had overtaken Mike Brearley with 19 Test wins as England captain. Not one for harking back to the past, Stokes was keener to talk up the achievements of his team in winning England’s first series in New Zealand for 16 years.

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.