England batting wunderkind Harry Brook’s bonkers Test feats now have him sitting among cricket legends after thriving during a New Zealand series that saw the visitors’ trademark ‘Bazball’ attitude return.

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An aggressive England dominated the second Test against the Black Caps almost from start to finish, recording a comprehensive 323-run win to take a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

It was England’s biggest ever ‘runs’ win over the Kiwis on its way to securing its first overseas Test series win in two years and its first series triumph in New Zealand since 2008.

Brook was integral to the second Test win in Wellington. With his team in strife on day one at 4-43, the right-hander produced a stunning 115-ball knock of 123 – which included 11 fours and five sixes – to completely flip the momentum of the match.

“The ball was nipping everywhere … yet he had the audacity, the skill to play shots like these over extra cover,” former England captain Sir Alastair Cook told TNT Sports post-match. “He basically put all the pressure back on the New Zealand bowling attack in totally and utterly bowler-friendly conditions.

“The beauty of him is he’s got all those different gears he can go to when he wants to go to. He was the difference between the two sides … and England’s hero at the moment.”

Asked post-match how he was able to pull off such an innings considering the tough batting conditions and unfavourable scoreline, Brook told BBC Sport: “It’s about having that courage to go out there and play that shot.

“That’s credit to the coaching staff, ‘Baz’, ‘Stokesy’ and the way that the environment is, knowing that if you can go out there and make a mistake, it doesn’t matter if you get out. As long as you’re trying to put the pressure back on them and put the team first.”

After registering another quickfire score (55 off 61 balls) in the second innings, Brook took his total tally to 2280 runs from just 38 Test innings. Only the legendary trio of Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Vivian Richards and Sir Everton Weekes accumulated more runs after the same number of innings.

Brook’s average of 61.62 sits third in Test history behind Bradman (99.94) and ex-Aussie batter Adam Voges (61.87) – all while going at a strike rate of 88.58.

Seven of Brook’s eight Test tons, remarkably, have come away from England. He averages 89.35 overseas and 38.05 on English soil.

“The thing that I really like about it is that for a long time if Joe Root didn’t score runs, that middle order was under serious pressure,” ex-England paceman Steve Finn told the TMS Podcast.

“Joe Root was the leading light in the team for a long time when it came to steadying run chases. When there was a crisis Joe Root was the person England would turn to. Now you’ve got two of them in Root and Brook – in among some very good players – at No. 4 and 5. To have them there is a really calming influence on the team.

“If you can keep your thought process so simple when you’re out in the middle when you’re under pressure and you commit fully to that method on that day, that’s what is so impressive about Harry Brook. He seems like a nightmare to bowl to … he’s a marvellous player, so versatile and so important for England going into the future.

“His ability to read length and game situation is something that sets him apart from other batters.”

Root, who himself scored an excellent century (106 off 130 balls) in the second innings against New Zealand, has been a big beneficiary of Brook’s excellent form, according to former England spinner Phil Tufnell.

“I think it’s good he (Root) has got Harry Brook just pushing him a little bit,” Tufnell told TNT Sports. “Because you can slip into a rut of ‘I’m the best player in the side, everyone’s expecting me to score runs’. But when you’ve got the little youngster nipping at your heels, it just focuses the mind a little bit.”

Root’s ton in Wellington was his 36th in Test cricket, drawing him level with India great Rahul Dravid. Only Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45), Ricky Ponting (41) and Kumar Sangakkara (38) have notched more centuries.

It was also Root’s sixth hundred of 2024 – a calendar year personal best – and his 19th since 2021.

“He’s the rock England have,” Cook said.

“You keep thinking: ‘Is he peaking? Is he going to tail off?’ Well he’s still going on that upwards (trajectory).”

Former England captain Michael Atherton said 33-year-old Root in “his absolute best” form.

“These runs here were on the back of that hundred from Brook and earlier efforts from Jacob Bethell (96) and Ben Duckett (92), so they weren’t the toughest runs he’s ever scored but you’ve still got to go out and get them – and Joe does that day in, day out. He’s incredibly consistent,” Atherton told Sky Sports.

“He is an unbelievable player, really. There are other very exciting young players in the team, obviously Brook and Bethell, but Root is still England’s best.”

England’s series win was particularly sweet for captain Ben Stokes, whose side was beaten 2-1 by Pakistan in October.

“He (Stokes) came into this series almost a little bit beleaguered, (but) he looks fit, he looks strong,” Tufnell said.

“He’s always been an empathetic captain. He likes picking up other people, he likes other people’s successes and he had a great big smile on his face (post-match) … and he’s making a difference as captain.”

Cook added: “Pakistan wasn’t his best tour as a captain. Obviously a few things off the field, he was injured … to be captaining back to the way Ben Stokes we’ve seen do over the past couple of years, you see a very, very happy camp.

“That relaxing feeling that he has for players, (it means) they can just go out and play the way they want to. If you do bowl a bad spell, you’ve not got the captain staring at you saying: ‘Why can’t you just land it on that length?’”

Writing for The Guardian, journalist Ali Martin said the pressure valve had been released for Stokes.

“This series in the country of his birth has pointed to a brighter future after the 2-1 defeat in Pakistan in October during which he was consumed by his fitness and the stress of a burglary back home. Bowling once more, back among the runs, and smiling with it, this has been a hugely restorative trip,” Martin wrote in The Guardian.

Atherton said the freedom of England’s Bazball approach had been evident across recent weeks.

“When, in the summer of 2022, England’s players were asked to define what Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes had brought to the dressing room, it was Stuart Broad who distilled the essence of it most succinctly. ‘It’s a mentality to get the most freedom and attacking style of play out of you, while loving cricket as much as you can,’ he said. Broad, and others, have moved on but that philosophy is written through this team like a stick of rock,” Atherton wrote in The Times.

“Here in New Zealand, England have looked a contented bunch, e-scootering to the ground in Christchurch, walking among spectators to the Basin Reserve in Wellington, playing golf at every opportunity the itinerary allows, and playing enterprising and winning cricket along the way.”