England easily win by eight wickets against New Zealand in the first Test match with Brydon Carse impressing and newcomer Jacob Bethell scoring an unbeaten 50.

If England could have handpicked a script for the first Test in New Zealand, it might have looked something like this.

10 wickets were claimed by the increasingly dangerous Brydon Carse, a remarkable recovery in the first innings with the bat led by another century from Harry Brook and some well-deserved runs for Ben Stokes. Additionally, the debutant No 3 Jacob Bethell made an impact in the fourth innings.

It all added up to an impressive eight-wicket win against a team who had entered the series on the crest of a wave after their 3-0 triumph in India.

Throughout the four days at Hagley Oval, England experienced success even in the smaller storylines, with a supportive crowd of 8,000 attending and showcasing the joy of Test cricket.

Ollie Pope excelled with a smooth 77 runs while temporarily batting at No 6, exhibiting exceptional wicketkeeping skills. Shoaib Bashir took four crucial wickets in the first innings, followed by three wickets in the second innings by Chris Woakes. Stokes, basking in the afternoon sun in his hometown, expressed his immense satisfaction by stating he was ‘very happy’.

Only the batting of Zak Crawley, who can’t buy a run against these opponents, and some scrappiness in the field which gifted 60 extras, threatened to remove any gloss from England’s fifth win out of six against New Zealand under Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

Another victory in the second Test, starting at Wellington’s Basin Reserve on Friday, would bring them their first series win in this country since 2007-08.

And if Carse continues to menace the home batsmen as he did while becoming the first England bowler to take 10 wickets in an overseas Test since Monty Panesar at Mumbai 12 years ago, they will have every chance.

Carse’s left biceps is tattooed with the latitude (33°57’29.2’S) and longitude (25°36’00.0’E) of his birthplace at Port Elizabeth provincial hospital in South Africa, but he is bowling as if he was always destined for a career as an England quick. Tall, fast and adept at bouncers and yorkers as he is at hammering out a good length, he now has 19 wickets in three Tests at just 17 each.

When play resumed on the fourth morning, New Zealand – six down in their second innings – led by just four, and England were keen for a quick kill. Carse completed the job almost by himself, winning lbw shouts against Nathan Smith and Matt Henry in the day’s eighth over.

Then, after Gus Atkinson had Tim Southee well held by Joe Root at deep midwicket, Carse returned to end Daryl Mitchell’s fighting 84 and finish with six for 42 – his first haul of five or more in first-class cricket since April 2021 – and the match award.

Having not played a Test before the recent tour of Pakistan, he suddenly looks like the first bowler on the teamsheet for next winter’s Ashes. And his verbal battle with Mitchell suggested he will be unfazed by whatever the Australians throw at him.

Carse’s heroics on a pitch still good for batting left England a target of 104. True to character, they knocked it off in 12.4 overs for the loss of Crawley, well held off his own bowling by Matt Henry for a single, and Ben Duckett, who carved and scooped his way to a rapid 27 before upper-cutting Will O’Rourke to third man.

But the manner in which Bethell finished the job was another feather in the Bazball cap. The selection at No 3 of a 21-year-old debutant with a first-class average of 25 had sent social media into meltdown, yet he batted with the confidence of a veteran averaging 50.

He broke the back of the chase with four dismissive boundaries down the ground in five balls off Nathan Smith, and later pulled Smith for six as victory approached. When he scored the winning single at 2.48pm local time, he also brought up a 37-ball half-century so full of promise that England appear to have tossed another piece into the Ashes jigsaw.

Durham wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson joined the team on Saturday morning after finally securing a new passport, but Pope’s assurance with the gloves could well lead to an unchanged team for Wellington.

And that would mean another game for Woakes, whose Test obituary was being written after he went wicketless in the first innings.

But his performance on the third afternoon, when he removed Kane Williamson and Tom Blundell in two balls, may have been his greatest few minutes in an overseas Test, and it was a surprise when Stokes opened the bowling in his place on the fourth morning.

For the moment, Woakes is part of England’s best XI, edging out the unfortunate Matthew Potts. The Ashes looks a trip too far, but England – desperate to end an up-and-down year on a high – have a series to win.