NEW DELHI: England's "Bazball" revolution continued its march on Sunday as Ben Stokes and co. registered an emphatic 267-run victory over New Zealand in the in the first Test Bay Oval.
The victory was England's first in New Zealand in 15 years (since 2008) and 10th in 11 matches since former Kiwi skipper Brendon "Baz" McCullum and Christchurch-born Ben Stokes took over as coach and captain.
Unable to recover from Stuart Broad's fiery spell with the pink ball on Saturday evening, The Black Caps, resuming at 63 for 5 skittled out for 126 in the morning session on the fourth day.
Pacers Broad and James Anderson both finished with four second innings wickets as England took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Broad (4-49) laid the groundwork on Saturday night under lights when he tore through New Zealand's top order, with all four wickets clean bowled to reduce them to 28-5 in pursuit of 394 for victory.
Long-time new ball partner James Anderson (4-18) took over as chief tormentor on Sunday, knocking over four tailenders as New Zealand added 63 more runs in 22.3 overs.
Only Daryl Mitchell, unbeaten on 57, put up any resistance after resuming his innings on 13, striking two sixes on his way to a sixth Test half-century.
It continued Mitchell's record of rearguard innings against the English, having scored 538 at an average of 108 runs during last June's 3-0 series defeat in England.
Michael Bracewell fell for his overnight score of 25 when looping an easy catch off spinner Jack Leach before Anderson began his clean-up job.
All four of New Zealand specialist pace bowlers fell to Anderson for single-figure scores, including captain Tim Southee for a golden duck.
Southee faces a challenge to lift his team, who are winless from their last eight Tests.
By contrast, England are on a high after tasting their first Test win on New Zealand soil since 2008, having drawn five and lost two matches since.
They have won 10 off their last 11 Tests playing an adventurous brand of attacking cricket, dubbed "Bazball", under coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
It was just the second time in 21 day-night Tests that the visiting team has won and ended a streak of five successive losses in the pink ball format for England.
They tactically dominated the game, batting aggressively and deliberately timing the end of both their innings so New Zealand had to face a new pink ball in lively seam conditions under lights on days one and three.
It meant New Zealand batsmen Kane Williamson, Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls never batted in more benign daylight conditions.
That will change in the second Test starting in Wellington on Friday, which will be played under traditional hours.
The home side are set to regain the services of seam bowler Matt Henry, who was unavailable for the series opener to attend the birth of his child.
(With inputs from AFP)
