Five key takeaways for England after their series success in New Zealand

Brydon Carse’s ban has been the making of him, while Shoaib Bashir still represents an Ashes gamble

Unless you’re Australia, New Zealand is not an easy place to win a Test series. India haven’t done so since 2008-09; England hadn’t managed it since 2007-08. The relatively modest praise for England’s achievement suggests New Zealand are condescended to in defeat as well as victory. If the first Test was a flawed slugfest, the second was a clinical demolition. England put a good New Zealand team under so much pressure – listen to how often the captain, Tom Latham, used that phrase – that eventually they could take no more. In both games England perceived an early batting collapse as an invitation to go harder, a common occurrence in the first Bazball summer and a sign, when it comes off, of a team in rude health. It was also telling that, for the first time in a while, England’s players looked like they were having all kinds of fun.

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