Stats: England's hat-trick of 250 chases, Jonny Bairstow's mayhem, and more
Daryl Mitchell's record runs for New Zealand, and other stats highlights from the hosts' 3-0 sweep of the visitors
Both Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes batted at a high strike rate against New Zealand • Getty Images
England completed a clean sweep against New Zealand with successful chases in all three matches - 277 at Lord's, 299 at Trent Bridge and 296 at Headingley. It was the first time a team won chasing 250-plus targets in three successive Tests. It was also the first instance of a team winning three times while chasing 250-plus targets in a Test series.
England set new benchmarks with their scoring rates in this series as their run rate of 4.54 across the three matches was the highest for any team to have batted five or more times in a Test series. Their aggressive batting took over from the chase at Trent Bridge, where they scored 299 in only 50 overs, the second-fastest Test innings of 300-plus balls.
England's high scoring rates coincided with Jonny Bairstow's destruction in the last three innings of the series. Bairstow scored only 25 runs in the first three innings, but in the following three knocks, he registered the second-fastest fifty, the second-fastest century and the second-fastest 150 for England in Test cricket. England's run rate crept well over five in all three of those innings.
Daryl Mitchell was the star for the visitors with the bat on the England tour, scoring 538 runs, the most by a player in a three-match series for New Zealand. His tally was also the fourth-highest in a Test series for his country. His three hundreds on the tour were also a New Zealand record, equaling Andrew Jones and Ross Taylor.
Tom Blundell played a crucial role in Mitchell's success with the bat, with long partnerships for the fifth and lower wickets throughout the series. The duo added 724 runs in six innings, the highest by any New Zealand pair in a Test series. They also became the first New Zealand pair to share four century stands in a series, and only the fifth pair overall.
Sampath Bandarupalli is a statistician at ESPNcricinfo