Bairstow slammed a breath-taking 77-ball century on the final day at Trent Bridge - the second fastest for England in Test cricket - as his side chased down 299 in just 50 overs to claim back-to-back Test wins over the Black Caps and a first series victory since January 2021.

Captain Stokes - with whom Bairstow shared a stand of 179 from just 121 balls for the fifth wicket - and new coach McCullum have overseen an immediate transformation in England's Test cricket, with an attacking approach snapping a run of just one victory in 17 games.

• Scorecard: England beat New Zealand by five wickets
• Day five at Trent Bridge - as it happened

Bairstow, though, was also quick to mention former skipper Joe Root, who resigned from the role in April, and previous coach Chris Silverwood, who departed the ECB after the 4-0 Ashes thrashing for the way they helped bring players together amid Covid bubbles and a poor run of results.

Speaking after smashing 14 fours and seven sixes in a blistering innings in Nottingham, Player of the Match Bairstow said: "Days like this are very exciting. If this is happening now, let's see what is going to happen in the next few weeks and months because, wow, it is going to be a journey.

"The players in the dressing room are able to play the positive brand of cricket and that never-say-die attitude, that ever-evolving confidence we have got within each other, allows people to flourish.

"If we are able to go forward as we have done this series, keeping that going, keeping the momentum, the sky is the limit.

"There has been a lot of chatter over a few years around England's Test cricket, some of which has been a bit harsh in some ways.

"We have battled through different things and I am hugely proud of the way guys have gone about it through those years. It has enabled us to get closer as a group.

"You have to give a lot of credit to the way Silvers [Silverwood] and Rooty went about everything through their tenure - Covid, bubbles, not being able to put out their best team. Bubbles are horrendous, they affect you physically and mentally, they affect your family.

"It's difficult to say because there has been a change [of coach and captain] that it's better - you have to be very careful about that because we still played some very good cricket."

England were set 299 to win in 72 overs after dismissing New Zealand for 284 earlier on day five in a run-fest of a Test - the Black Caps having piled on 553 first time around before the hosts replied with 539 thanks principally to centuries from Joe Root and Ollie Pope.

Bairstow added: "When so many runs have been scored in the game, I don't think you look at it as a record run chase. I think you look at it as an opportunity to chase down a total. We thought of it as a one-day game. That's how we looked at it. The pitch was very good, the outfield was fast."

The Yorkshireman, who resumed after tea on 43 from 48 balls and with England requiring 160 from 38 overs, said a cheese and ham toastie and a coffee at the break gave him fuel for an incredible post-tea onslaught, with the 31-year-old reaching three figures just 29 balls later.

He also felt the Trent Bridge encounter, which featured a record 248 boundaries - 224 fours and 24 sixes - and a packed crowd on day five with tickets having been made free, was a superb advert for Test cricket, citing the pitch as a huge part of that.

He added: "It was great fun to be out there. When you get in that kind of mod you just have to go with it. It was do or die for us, so you've got to do.

"We have played on some niggly, scrappy [wickets] that have been tough to bat on but we have played on an absolute belter here.

"Day five. Full house. What an advert for Test cricket that is. Hundreds and hundreds of runs scored, wickets, going into the last session of the game. There has been everything Test cricket is about. It's a cracking advert."

Watch the third and final Test between England and New Zealand, from Clean Slate Headingley, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10am on Thursday, June 23.