The China Mail - Bairstow revels in 'fun' chase after England beat New Zealand

Bairstow took just 77 balls to reach his ninth Test century, just one ball more than Gilbert Jessop's 76-ball ton against Australia in 1902.

A capacity crowd at Trent Bridge was treated to a remarkable array of brutal boundaries from Bairstow, who hit 14 fours and seven sixes in his knock of 136.

"It was really good fun," said Bairstow. "There was obviously times you've got to get yourself in. I think it was 10 off 26 or 27 balls but then when you've got yourself in you've just got to capitalise."

England looked in trouble when they fell to 93-4, with star man Joe Root managing just three as they chased 299.

However, Bairstow and captain Ben Stokes then shared a blistering partnership of 179 for the fifth wicket that took the game away from the world Test champions.

"We always said if we needed 160 in the last session that's what we were kind of looking at -- 160 off 35, you back yourself to get that," Bairstow said.

"I know we were three or four wickets down but it's still there. We've had people that have come out and played special knocks and that's exactly what we believed this morning when we came to the ground. We wanted to take some wickets. That's exactly what we did.

"They played well all the way through and fortunately we were brave enough to take the biggest challenge on and we took it on straight from the horns."

F.Jackson--ThChM