Three things we learned from the England-New Zealand series

England completed a breathtaking 3-0 series rout of Test world champions New Zealand with a dashing seven-wicket win at Headingley on Monday.

Below AFP Sport looks at three things we learned from England's first campaign under their new leadership team of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.

New attitude

A year ago, England made absolutely no effort to chase down a target of 273 in the first Test against New Zealand at Lord's as the match petered out into a tame draw.

Yet this series saw them chase down stiff targets of 277 and 299 in five-wicket wins at Lord's and Trent Bridge before Jonny Bairstow's blistering fifty made light of their pursuit of 296 in Leeds.

"If we were on the wrong side of results of these games, if they played out the same way but we'd lost, I would have walked off a very, very happy captain with the way that everybody's applied themselves and the attitude they've given to every single day, every single session, every single hour of these three Tests matches," said Stokes.

Bairstow benefits 

Bairstow has now played 86 Tests for England yet there has often been uncertainty about his position in the side, with the Yorkshireman variously deployed as a top-order batter, middle-order run-getter and wicketkeeper-batsman.

But, relieved of the gloves by Ben Foakes and given the freedom to attack by Stokes and McCullum he now appears settled at number five and able to play in the same fashion that has made him a world-class white-ball batsman.

For evidence look no further than a stunning hundred in a run-chase at Trent Bridge and his first-innings 162 at Headingley -- not to mention his heroics on Monday.

In 2022 he has already scored 774 runs in seven Tests with four centuries at an average of 64.50.

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