Rampant England pummel New Zealand again to seal series in Wellington

: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 Wellington's 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.

With the bat, the controversial selection of Jacob Bethell at number three paid dividends in only his second test with an innings of 96, while Ollie Pope thrived with a key knock of 66 despite being dropped down the order as stand-in wicketkeeper.

Most of all, it was the brilliant innings of 123 from Player of the Match Harry Brook on a tricky surface that laid the foundation for England's biggest win by runs over the Black Caps, and a first series triumph in New Zealand since 2008.

"You look down that scorecard, there's one guy that took it away from us," said New Zealand captain Tom Latham.

"Harry played a fantastic innings there. Credit where credit's due, I thought that was a fantastic innings."

Stokes agreed the fifth-wicket partnership between Brooks and Pope that took England from 43-4 to 280 in the first innings had been crucial.

"Scoring 280 and having five New Zealand