New Zealand are now mathematically out of the race for a spot in the World Test Championship final after they lost inside three days against England in Wellington.
Having been bowled out for 125 in their first innings, New Zealand were unable to muster much more resistance in their second innings. They were set 583 to win by England after Jacob Bethell and Ben Duckett both made scores of 90 plus and Joe Root racked up another century. Batting before Lunch on day three, they went into the break already four wickets down.
The only serious and sustained resistance of the day was shown by Tom Blundell, who cracked his fifth Test century to take New Zealand past 200. There was also a lower-order cameo from Nathan Smith, who hit his highest Test score of 42 before edging behind off Ben Stokes. There was little from the rest of the line-up, Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse decimating the top-order with the new ball before Gus Atkinson and Shoaib Bashir provided the breakthroughs in the middle. Stokes mopped up the tail with three wickets in three overs, sealing England's first series win in New Zealand since 2008 with a 323-run win.
The loss means that New Zealand are now out of the race for a place in next year's World Test Championship final. Their hopes had already been significantly dented in the past week, after they lost to England in the first Test in Christchurch and were handed a points deduction for slow over-rates during that game. Now the fight is between India, South Africa, Australia and Sri Lanka to compete in the showpiece event at Lord's in 2025.
While England are also mathematically out of contention for the final, they overtook New Zealand in the table after their win. They now sit in fifth place with a PCT of 45.24.
World Test Championship 2023-25: Updated standings after England beat New Zealand in Wellington
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Lost | Draw | Penalties | Points | PCT |
| 1 | India | 15 | 9 | 5 | 1 | -2 | 110 | 61.11 |
| 2 | South Africa | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 64 | 59.26 |
| 3 | Australia | 13 | 8 | 4 | 1 | -10 | 90 | 57.69 |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 60 | 50.00 |
| 5 | England | 21 | 11 | 9 | 1 | -22 | 114 | 45.24 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | -3 | 69 | 44.23 |
| 7 | Pakistan | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | -8 | 40 | 33.33 |
| 8 | Bangladesh | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | -3 | 45 | 31.25 |
| 9 | West Indies | 11 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 24.24 |
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