England captain Alastair Cook has nothing but praise for his players after their win over New Zealand.

Following England’s comprehensive eight wicket win over New Zealand at Napier, Cook has rushed to celebrate his key players – James Anderson and Joe Root.

Anderson’s 5-34 significantly reduced New Zealand’s attack and helped England finish the hosts off for a total of 268 runs. This built the platform for the English batsmen to go out and finish the job, which they did with ferocious efficiency.

Jonathan Trott and Cook himself reached half-centuries, but it was the unbeaten 79 not-out from 22-year-old Joe Root that really impressed the captain.

“He’s been excellent since he came in, he’s a really good kid,” Cook said about Root to IBN Live.

“He works really hard and he’s got a lot of talent.”

Root’s 79 from 56 balls included nine boundaries. Yet although it was an explosive performance from the young Yorkshireman, it was also a mature one as he and Trott batted out England’s victory with 14 balls to spare.

It was also recognised by Cook that England couldn’t have achieved the victory with the bat if the bowling before hadn’t been top-class.

“I thought the way we bowled up front was outstanding,” Cook told IBN Live.

“Steven Finn and James Anderson really bowled well. We gave them nothing to get going, took some wickets and put them under pressure.”

Finn finished with figures of 1-33, but it was Anderson’s five wicket haul – his first since 2009 – that really stole the headlines.