It was, in the end, the scenario most of the locals wanted: two young, born and bred Yorkshiremen, digging England out of a hole with batting of class and substance. This was a golden afternoon for Yorkshire cricket.
Scorer: Binoy George | Commentator: Kanishkaa Balachandran
But that is that from Headingley, thanks to Gnasher and Monty and Kanishkaa for the last five days. Monty and I will be back on Friday for the first ODI, 10.45am BST start, but I'm sure you'll hear from all of us over the next month for the Champions Trophy. Enjoy...
Five matches on both sides of the world complete and England have finally proved why they are six places higher in the world rankings. They can now turn their attention to the Ashes, which begin at Trent Bridge on July 10. New Zealand's next Test action is set to be in Bangladesh in October and it will be interesting to see how they move on from this tour. But both England and New Zealand turn quickly to one-day cricket with a three-match one-day series, this Friday, Sunday and next Wednesday, before the Champions Trophy which starts next week too.
Time for the Presentation...the umpires get their medals. The Man of the Match goes to Graeme Swann for his 10-wickets in the match, who praises the hardcore day five fans and Joe Root, and his surgeon. The England player of the series, as chosen by New Zealand coach Mike Hesson goes to Root for excellent efforts at Lord's and of course his fabulous century on Saturday, but he gives the most boring interview ever known to man. The New Zealand player of the series has been chosen as Tim Southee by England team director Andy Flower, Southee admitting that England were just too good in the end but hopefully New Zealand's young bowling group can stick around for a while.
New Zealand reluctantly come forward to collect their losers runners-up medals and the gallant captain Brendon McCullum. "I think the gulf between the teams was exposed in this Test match, unfortunately England flexed their muscles," McCullum says. "England are formidable at home but we certainly had the bowling attack to challenge them but all of us struggled with the bat to get the big score we needed. But we've got the makings of a very good team."
England now collect their medals and here's the winning skipper Cook: "We put in a really good performance here and one to 11 everyone put their hand up," he says. "It was great for Rooty to get a hundred, it swung all day on the first day. Swanny to get 10 wickets was a great effort too. It's good momentum for the Ashes and gives us confidence for that series. If you're picking up one percenters we could have batted quicker on Sunday evening but we set out to get a 470 lead and we did that. I was a little nervous this morning but luckily we got the time we needed."
New Zealand sort of ran out of steam here. They struggled at Lord's with the bat but their bowling kept them in the game. But here, England found enough runs to take New Zealand right out of the game, with Joe Root making a fairytale maiden century on his home ground, and the tourists' batting was found wanting again, save Ross Taylor in the second innings, this time more against the spinning, rather than swinging ball.
Plenty of boxes ticked for England in this match ahead of the Ashes - their next Test-match assignment - with Steven Finn showing better form and Graeme Swann getting back to his best after elbow surgery. His 10 for 132 is the best return by a spinner at Headingley since Derek Underwood terrorised Australia on a pitch resembling rolled mud in 1972.
It became a little nervy for England dodging the rain but they've found enough time to take the final four wickets on day five and have won by 247 runs, a very comprehensive way to wrap up a 2-0 series victory. New Zealand were pretty competitive in the first four Tests between these sides but here at Headingley have been blown away with their batting not up to scratch and England finding a way to get on top of New Zealand's tricky bowling attack.
TA Boult c †Prior b Anderson 0 (24m 24b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
New Zealand weren't going to change ends so Cook has changed the ends for them...
There is going to be a change and Swann is removed for now with James Anderson replacing him at the Kirkstall Lane End...three slips and a gully and a short leg...
Not a great over really...
Time for a change I reckon...
The company he keeps on a list of England centurions under the age of 23 points to a dazzling future as a climber of milestones
It's the one where it doesn't rain all that much, but you get soaked anyway and the players hardly come out of the dressing room
The bowlers could not have done much more, but New Zealand's top order was unpicked by the England attack to revive questions about the personnel in the line-up
After a lean series against New Zealand, Nick Compton needs to go back to county cricket and free his mind from recent stresses
Lane and Wells look at the bright side of NZ being rubbish, bookmaking as a career, the Headingley Test, Hadlee's 'tache and skip, and other Kiwi teams that wore beige
