England vs New Zealand Tests June 2022: England Win 3-0 (First Bazball Series — Stokes Captain, McCullum Coach) — First Team to Chase 250+ in Three Successive Tests (277/299/296), Bairstow Century in 77 Balls (England Fastest Since 1902), Leach Maiden 10-Wicket Haul, Mitchell 538 Runs Three Consecutive Centuries

England won the 3-match New Zealand Test series in June 2022 by 3-0 — the first series under Ben Stokes as Test captain (appointed April 28, 2022) and Brendon McCullum as head coach (appointed May 12, 2022): universally identified as the beginning of the Bazball era. Joe Root (396 series runs) and Daryl Mitchell (538 series runs — the highest aggregate by a New Zealand batter against England in a single series) were joint Players of the Series. England lost all three tosses but won all three Tests. Matty Potts took 14 wickets in his debut series; Trent Boult led New Zealand with 16. 1st Test Lord's (June 2-5, 2022): England won by 5 wickets — NZ 132 & 285; ENG 141 & 279/5. England chased 277. Root scored 115* in the chase (Player of the Match). Mitchell scored 108 in New Zealand's 2nd innings. 2nd Test Trent Bridge (June 10-14, 2022): England won by 5 wickets — NZ 553 & 284; ENG 539 & 299/5. England chased 299 — the highest successful run-chase at Trent Bridge in Test history at that time. Jonny Bairstow scored 136 off 92 balls (Player of the Match); his century came in 77 balls, the fastest Test hundred by an England batter since 1902. Mitchell scored 190 in New Zealand's 1st innings and 62* in the 2nd. Boult took 8 match wickets. 3rd Test Headingley (June 23-27, 2022): England won by 7 wickets — NZ 329 & 326; ENG 360 & 296/3. England chased 296. Jack Leach took 5 wickets in each innings — match figures of 10/166, his maiden 10-wicket haul in Tests. Bairstow scored 162 in England's 1st innings and 71* in the chase. Jamie Overton partnered Bairstow in a 241-run 7th-wicket stand — England's highest 7th-wicket partnership in Tests at the time. Mitchell scored 109 in New Zealand's 1st innings — his third consecutive Test century in the series, something only the fifth New Zealand batter had ever achieved in Tests.

The Record-Breaking Chase Trilogy: 277, 299, 296 — A First in Test History

England's three 4th-innings chases in the New Zealand series — 277 at Lord's, 299 at Trent Bridge, and 296 at Headingley — were each completed successfully, making England the first team in Test history to win three consecutive matches while chasing 250 or more in the final innings. The Bazball philosophy — aggressive batting, positive declarations, freedom for batsmen to play their natural games — was expressed most clearly through the chase mentality: Root's unbeaten 115 at Lord's was a controlled anchor innings; Bairstow's 136 off 92 at Trent Bridge (77-ball century, England's fastest since 1902) was an accelerating assault; and the combination of Bairstow (162 in the 1st innings), Overton (241-run 7th-wicket stand), and Leach's 10 wickets at Headingley was a complete match performance. Stokes himself declared — England's first series as a captain embodied exactly the aggressive, boundary-pushing cricket his team would play for the next three years.

Daryl Mitchell: 538 Runs and Three Consecutive Centuries in a Losing Series

Daryl Mitchell's 538 series runs — 13 (Lord's 1st innings), 108 (Lord's 2nd innings), 190 (Trent Bridge 1st innings), 62* (Trent Bridge 2nd innings), 109 (Headingley 1st innings) — made him one of the great losing performers in a Test series. His three consecutive centuries (108, 190, 109) placed him in a list of only five New Zealand batters to have scored three hundreds in succession in a Test series. His 190 at Trent Bridge, scored against a full-strength England seam attack, included partnerships that kept New Zealand competitive in a match where England also scored 539. That New Zealand lost 3-0 despite Mitchell accumulating more series runs (538) than any New Zealand batter against England in a single series was a measure of how dominant England were collectively — especially Bairstow (369 runs at a strike-rate over 100 across the last two Tests) and Leach's 10 Headingley wickets.