If anything encapsulated the difference between New Zealand and England, it was the departure of two champions.
New Zealand great Kane Williamson quietly faded into the background following the first test loss at Lord’s, while England captain Ben Stokes’ grandstanding exit was planned with the sort of meticulous detail the home side ought to have reserved for their preparation for the deciding test.
It felt orchestrated.
The news quickly spread through the crowd and they rose to their feet in time to see Stokes remove Zak Foulkes.
Wild celebrations broke out, but England were losing the test and, with it, the series.
Daryl Mitchell was painstakingly grinding his way towards a gutsy century.
He faced 170 balls on his way to 50. He got hit more than a dozen times. The commentary team described him as being beaten black and blue by the English attack.
The crowd started chanting “boring, boring’’.
But what they were missing was that he was putting the game out of reach.
His tenacious, determined and bloody-minded knock took valuable time out of the game and baited England into batting like they were drunk and it was past midnight.
Stokes promoted himself to open and gave “Bazball” one last whirl.
The left-hander tried to flog the first ball he faced through cover and failed to connect with a reverse sweep next ball.
He swatted 30 off 20 and went out in a reckless blaze of vainglory.
Contrast that with Williamson’s departure.
He had a vanilla hotel room as the backdrop and a lone camera capturing his final thoughts.
The whole retirement was wrapped up in under five minutes. Even that was probably too much fanfare for the great right-hander.
A colleague suggested he probably would have been happier to retire via email.
A star went dim in the sky forever, leaving his hard-working team-mates to get on with the job of inflicting a 2-1 defeat on England.
It is just the second time England have been beaten in a three-test series after winning the first test, and the first time at home.
This was no small achievement.
It has to sit alongside the historic 3-0 whitewash of India in India in 2024, the 2-1 win over Australia when a moustachioed Richard Hadlee took 33 wickets in three tests across the Tasman in 1985, and the dramatic 1-0 series win over the West Indies in New Zealand in 1980.
The series win was truly a collective effort.
Eight New Zealand players either scored a hundred or claimed a five-wicket bag.
Everyone took a turn on the shovel.
Black Caps captain Tom Latham (151) — who was at the helm in India two years ago as well — combined with Devon Conway (157) in a 317-run stand in the third test.
Matt Henry took 11 for 109 in the second test, an effort which propelled him to the top of the ICC test bowling rankings.
Oamaru’s own Nathan Smith was named player of the series for his haul of 16 wickets across the three tests.
Wicketkeeper Tom Blundell answered his critics with a commanding effort behind the stumps.
Glenn Phillips scored his maiden test century to help set up a 253-run win in the second test.
Henry Nicholls was recalled following the retirement of Williamson. He scored a ton in the second test.
His run-out of Joe Root in the third test was an outrageous piece of skill matched only by the equally outrageous run-out of Josh Tongue, when Mitchell Santer ran around the ball to get on to his favoured left arm and hit the stumps from side-on.
The Black Caps also overcame a run of injuries to key bowlers.
This team is so much greater than the sum of their parts.
