Daryl Mitchell has revealed that his Player-of-The-Match effort in Nottingham was a "very special" full-circle moment for him, after he was inspired by watching New Zealand come from behind to beat England in 1999.
Mitchell spent five years living in Manchester and London as a boy while his father John, a former rugby union player, worked in coaching roles with Sale Sharks (head coach) and England (forwards coach). He was eight years old when New Zealand came from 1-0 down to win a Test series 2-1 in 1999, which he described as a "pivotal time" for his love of cricket.
Twenty-seven years later, Mitchell upstaged Ben Stokes' retirement with a tenacious, unbeaten hundred (and five catches) to win the match award as New Zealand pulled off a repeat win, taking the series 2-1. John, now a World Cup-winning head coach with England's women, was in the stands at Trent Bridge to see his son's hundred.
"It's always special when you win a Test series," Mitchell told Cricinfo, beer in hand, moments after New Zealand had finished singing the team song in their end-of-series celebrations in the away dressing room at Trent Bridge. "To come over here [and win] is something we, as Kiwis, haven't done a lot in the past, so it's always special to win Test matches for your country."
Mitchell played the second Test in New Zealand's 1-0 win in England in June 2021, a two-match series immediately before the World Test Championship (WTC) final. But this win was a significantly bigger achievement, coming from behind to become the first touring team in 14 years to win a series of three or more matches in England.
He was taunted with chants of "boring, boring Mitchell" while he ground out a 241-ball hundred on Sunday afternoon, but relished the fact that England fans were singing his name.
"It's cool," Mitchell said. "Growing up as a kid watching Ashes series on TV, and New Zealand in '99 is probably a pivotal time. I was only eight at the time when they won that series, and [I remember] watching that on TV and you hear the Barmy Army and you hear all the crowd.
"It's cool to look back now and hear your name getting chanted, whether it's good or bad, or whatever; it's all good. It was nice to experience it.
"I just love competing. I love getting stuck into moments and trying to do a job for our team… I just love playing for New Zealand. It means so much to do it across three formats, and to get stuck into certain moments of games to help us win? That's what gets me up.
"My wife and two girls are travelling [with me] for the whole Test tour, which is always good fun, and obviously dad lives here in London with the rugby stuff that he does. They were all floating around [on Sunday]. It's always nice to have family close by, and it brings a bit of normality to this crazy game that we play."
Mitchell wore multiple blows across his innings on an up-and-down pitch, and was seen sporting some substantial bruises while changing from his training kit into his whites before play on Monday morning. "As you can imagine, there's a few spots that are a bit sore," he said with a grin. "But it's definitely worth it.
"That's why you do the job that you do: to try and win Test matches for our country, and to put us in positions to do that and on a challenging surface, [it was about] finding ways to keep building partnerships… It's cool. It makes all the bruises and stuff worth it, when you win Tests like that.
"That's Test cricket. I grew up as a kid watching Test matches like that on TV, and wanting to be part of moments like that. To get that opportunity to be out there and to live my dream of playing Test cricket for my country, and to help us win not only a Test match here in England but to win a Test series, it's pretty special."
New Zealand have now won away in India and in England since Tom Latham took over as captain in October 2024. They have a bumper run of Test cricket coming up in 2026-27, featuring a home series against India and a four to Australia, and will be in the mix to make another World Test Championship final next year
"Tom's a great man," Mitchell said. "He's very experienced in the Test arena: he's close to 100 Test caps [95] now for New Zealand; that's a hell of a lot. As well as being a top-order opening batsman, he's a very calm soul as well. He's leading brilliantly… He's a good mate of mine, plays at Canterbury with me, and he's a good man, so I love playing underneath him.
"The key to our success over a decade or so now is we will just be where our feet are, and we'll celebrate the success of beating England but also understand there's a lot of hard work [to be done] between now and whenever the next Test series comes up to try and give ourselves the best chance of winning the next one.
"We're not going to go and make any outrageous statements, but we'll just keep chipping away as Kiwis. If we do the little things really well, which you saw in this series, then hopefully we'll go a long way to achieving the things we want to."