England v New Zealand: Joe Root urges against panic after Edgbaston defeat

Captain Joe Root said it is “not a time to panic” after England were thrashed by eight wickets in the second Test by New Zealand.

The Black Caps wrapped up victory inside an hour on day four at Edgbaston to consign England to a first series defeat at home since 2014.

England face India in five Tests later this summer before trying to regain the Ashes in Australia this winter.

“We’ve massively underperformed,” Root told BBC Test Match Special.

“But we’ve got a lot of cricket still to play this summer and there is a lot of cricket to be played between now and the Ashes.

“We’ve just got to stay calm and trust what we’ve been doing for a long time now. That is going to be really important.”

England v New Zealand: Cook critiques England batting line-up

Although England fought back with the ball to limit New Zealand’s first-innings lead to 85, they collapsed to 76-7 after tea on the third day before closing on 122-9.

“You can have bad sessions with the ball but you can’t have sessions like that with the bat,” said Root.

Olly Stone was removed with the first ball of day four to leave New Zealand only 38 to secure a 1-0 series victory – their first series win in England since 1999.

New Zealand, the top-ranked Test side external-link in the world, face India in the inaugural World Test Championship final at the Ageas Bowl from Friday, but had made six changes from the drawn first Test at Lord’s.

England were without all-rounder Ben Stokes and fast bowler Jofra Archer because of injury, while wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and all-rounder Chris Woakes were rested.

“New Zealand have schooled us a little bit this week,” said Root, who before this had never lost a home series since taking over as captain in 2017.

“There is still plenty of learning to do, but if you can marry that with the talent and ability that our batters have got, we could see some really big scores by the back end of the year.”