Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow lead England to a seven-wicket victory and a series sweep.

Astonishing final-morning acceleration seals contest in barely an hour's play

England 360 (Bairstow 162, Overton 97, Boult 4-104) and 296 for 3 (Root 86*, Pope 82, Bairstow 71*) beat New Zealand 329 (Mitchell 109, Blundell 55, Leach 5-100) and 326 (Blundell 88, Latham 76, Mitchell 65, Leach 5-66) by seven wickets

 Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root sprinted to a 3-0 series victory on the last afternoon at Headingley in just 15.2 overs, leaving the changing room with the impatience of someone who has survived a 2.5-hour rain delay.

For the third time in as many games, a seemingly impossible target was pursued with absurd haste. This time, the target was 296 rather than the 277 at Lord's and 299 at Trent Bridge. After scoring back-to-back hundreds in his previous two innings, Bairstow sped to a 29-ball fifty, the second-fastest in Test history, and by the time he reached the end of his innings at 71 not out from 44 balls, he had squandered Root's chances of matching Daryl Mitchell's feat of scoring hundreds in each of the three Tests.

Even when it contains another variant of Root's ramp stroke, this time a deflection for four through fine leg, a score of 86 not out from 125 balls is no longer adequate to dominate a difficult run-chase, which says something about England's current state of mind. Naturally, Root isn't going to give a damn about that, and when he and Bairstow sped to a seven-wicket victory with a 111-run stand from just 87 balls, he was able to confirm his own majestic vein of form with a final series total of 396 runs at an average of 99.

Despite a very slow start, Bairstow came close to surpassing Root's total. He had scores of 1, 16, and 8 in his first three innings of the series, but in his last three trips to the crease, he has gone into world-beating overdrive, scoring 369 runs off 293 balls, including 46 fours and ten sixes. As the unquestioned No. 1 batter in the world, Root, though, was later voted England's Player of the Series, reflecting the immense grandeur he gives to this team.

After an early lunch and a cloudy morning of rain in Leeds, the contest quickly picked back up. With his fifth delivery of the morning, Tim Southee eliminated Ollie Pope. The dangerously accurate seamer zipped back off the ground to remove his off stump and prevent the batter from reaching his second series hundred. Pope lost after adding one run to his overnight total of 81.

However, Root and Bairstow chose to treat such perfection with scorn instead of the respect that England might have shown it. Trent Boult has been the best seam bowler for either team in this series, but his first over of the morning was slashed for 17 thanks to back-to-back cuts from Root and a succession of deflections from Jonny Bairstow off the pads and through third man, displaying his white-ball acumen.

Sincerely, that marked the conclusion of the competition for the day. England's drive to keep accelerating through the threat was outstanding, even though Southee in particular continued to challenge the edge with his usual skill in seaming conditions. By the time Bairstow extended his arms through a Southee length ball to launch Boult back over his head for six, he had blasted to 21 from his first 12 deliveries. Boult was then belted for a further four through point.

With 66 runs left to defend, Kane Williamson turned back to his spinner, Michael Bracewell, who'd been ransacked for 70 runs in 11 overs on day four, and Bairstow greeted him with a sweep for four through square leg. One over later, he drilled a straight six so fast and flat that it ended up wedged between two seats in the Football Stand.

When New Zealand burned their final review on a catch that was shown to have looped off his forearm, Bairstow barely paused for thought. He had been biffed along to his fifty with another dismissive drive through mid-on off Southee. With back-to-back boundaries off Bracewell, a chop off the back foot for four, then a powerful mash high over wide long-on for the series-tying six, Bairstow ensured a fitting conclusion.

After England's first 3-0 series whitewash since their tour of Sri Lanka in 2018–19 and their most dominant home series scoreline since defeating India 4-0 in 2011, it was left to Stokes, who was no longer needed in the chase, to raise the series trophy.

Stokes stated, "When I took over this job, it was more than results for me. "It was about changing the way the players thought about Test cricket, about enjoying yourself and the fact that you're out there representing your nation, and the results will take care of themselves," Stokes said.

"But to say that we've done it so quickly is just unbelievable," he added. "To walk away with a 3-0 series win over the best team in the world is a pretty special start. I've got to show a huge amount of testament to the team over these three games. They've been absolutely phenomenal."