New Zealand thrash England to take series

Edgbaston, Jun 13: England’s dismal second-Test defeat was confirmed inside an hour on the fourth morning at Edgbaston, giving New Zealand a 1-0 series win.
The home side lost their last wicket to the first ball of the day, Olly Stone edging behind off Trent Boult. It meant New Zealand had only 38 runs to chase, which they did inside 11 overs to win by eight wickets. England go down to their first home series defeat since 2014, when Sri Lanka won a two-match series 1-0. It is New Zealand’s first success in England in 22 years and leaves them in fine fettle heading into the World Test Championship final against India at the Ageas Bowl that starts on Friday.
England move on to limited-overs matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan before a five-Test series against India begins in August.
For some time, England have been saying they are building towards this winter’s Ashes series, but, increasingly, this team is finding problems and losing answers.
Not once in 2021 have England fielded a full-strength Test side. They began the year with three successive victories but have now lost four of their past five.
Yes, there have been injuries to Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, while the need for resting Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran has been explained as a way to manage workloads and protect players from issues related to the Covid era.