New Zealand’s stand-in captain Tom Latham heaped praise on England's Jonny Bairstow and captain Ben Stokes for their special innings, saying they were just too amazing with the bat after suffering a five-wicket defeat in the second Test at Trent Bridge on Tuesday (June 14).
Latham further said that the England duo just left New Zealand bowlers clueless, as they tried out many different things, but it didn’t work out against Stokes and Stokes. With this loss, New Zealand is down 0-2 in the three-Test series and has lost the series.
Bairstow came in to bat at 56 for 3, and went on to smash a century and stitch a 179-run partnership off just 121 balls with Stokes (75*) for the fifth wicket to turn the game in favor of England on the final day.
The right-hander took the New Zealand bowlers to the cleaners, smashing a 92-ball 136 laced with 14 fours and 7 sixes, and recording the second-fastest Test century by an England batter in the process.
After the match, Latham was asked if the target of 299 runs was enough to defend on the final day. The stand-in skipper said that it was enough, but credited Bairstow and Stokes for winning the match for England.
Latham said: “We certainly believed it was. You have to have some belief when you get into a final innings. The way we started with the ball was outstanding and we were able to make those breakthroughs. At lunch they were three-down, and then we had a bit of momentum going into tea as well. If we were able to get a couple of breakthroughs after that, we'd get into the bowlers but we weren't able to do that.”
He added, “We tried a few different things. But unfortunately, whatever we tried, they were able to negate that. Sometimes when the guys play special innings like that you just have to take your hat off to them. They played fantastically well.”
Ben Stokes remained unbeaten on 75 in 70 balls with 10 fours and 4 sixes to his name.
