Stokes' England career ends with NZ series defeat

Third Rothesay Test, Trent Bridge (day five of five) New Zealand 438 (Conway 157, Latham 151; Stokes 4-70) & 288-9 dec: (Mitchell 100*, Ravindra 94; Archer 4-53) England 354 (Duckett 113, Bethell 74; Smith 4-91) & 212 (Smith 60; Foulkes 3-42) New Zealand won by 160 runs, won series 2-1 Scorecard Ben Stokes' storied England career ended in a series defeat by New Zealand, who wrapped up the third and deciding Test on the final day in Nottingham. The day after captain Stokes announced this Test would be his last, England's 160-run loss at Trent Bridge - and a 2-1 series reverse - highlighted the mess they now find themselves in. In the aftermath of the Stokes news on Sunday, England slumped to a self-inflicted 103-4 by the close of day four, leaving an inevitability about their chances of chasing 373 on Monday. And any sense of a prolonged fight was extinguished in the fourth over of the day, when Emilio Gay departed and, crucially, Joe Root was run out by an extraordinary direct hit from Henry Nicholls. Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson at least staved off humiliation with a battling stand of 75, ended when Atkinson was out just before lunch. Smith completed only his second half-century in 11 months, but Josh Tongue was the victim of another sublime New Zealand direct hit, this time by Mitchell Santner, before Smith was caught at long-off to leave England 212 all out. …