New England captain Ben Stokes has spoken highly of Head Coach Brendon McCullum after the pair secured a win against New Zealand, with the next meeting between the sides at Trent Bridge on Friday providing an opportuntiy for the hosts to take an unassailable lead in the three match series.  

"It's not an overnight thing," Stokes said. "This is what me and Brendon are trying to work towards and we know that, but a great start to win.

"The confidence and the energy that he brings, his mindset towards the game, he's just going to make everybody feel 10-foot tall in any situation that we're in and I've really enjoyed working with him so far this week."

England secured victory on the fourth day at Lord’s, Joe Root masterminding a chase of 277 with an unbeaten hundred. 

He was accompanied by Ben Foakes who accumulated 32*, having seen off 15 overs of play on the final session of day three. 

Stokes - who made 54 in the fourth innings - revealed that Nottinghamshire’s Stuart Broad would have been sent in at eight instead of Matty Potts had the gloveman lost his wicket, and it is that outside-of-the-box thinking which is endearing the 31-year-old to the Kiwi coach.

"When Foakesy went out to bat, he was going to send Broady in if we lost the wicket to go and have a slog, just to score 30, 40 runs, game's done," Stokes said. 

"That's the kind of stuff that we're not used to in the dressing room. Those kinds of things filtering around will do us the world of good.” 

His threat with the bat clearly understood, Stokes was equally satisfied to rely on the experience of Broad and James Anderson with the ball. 

The pair took ten wickets between them in the match, while Stokes’ Durham counterpart Potts took seven on debut. 

The all-rounder praised the impact of the 23-year-old, whilst revealing that he tried to act intuitively in his first game as permanent skipper, backing the aggressive style of cricket with which he has become synonymous.

"Everybody knows what Jimmy and Broady are all about," he said. 

"The only difference in the role that Matty played was obviously he normally takes the new ball for Durham. But throughout the whole summer, Scotty [Borthwick], Durham's captain, has turned to him to get the wicket, to get the breakthrough, to change the game, and that's how I wanted to use him this week. And he did it every time I chucked him the ball.

"I was just making sure that I still stuck to my guns and was always looking to be positive in the way that I wanted the bowlers to bowl, the fields that I set... stick to everything that you've been talking about because you know actions speak louder than words."

"It's a great start, we've won, there's obviously going to be ups and downs. And it's just about dealing with that but I think having me and Brendon in charge, it's going to be really important how we operate when things don't go well."

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England versus New Zealand at our historic home

From James Anderson ripping through Australia, to Joe Root and Jos Buttler tons, day four fireworks are frankly commonplace at our historic home.

Secure your seats for day four of England against world champions New Zealand here…