In what has turned out to be a humbling tour for the World Test Champions in England so far, the two players who have stood out have been Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell. The former was not even a certain starter at the beginning of the tour and played at Lord's only because Henry Nicholls tested COVID-positive in the lead up to the first Test.

The duo has bailed out the visitors from precarious situations multiple times in the series to put them in a pole positions only for them to lose the plot from there on yet again. Mitchell raked up remarkable numbers scoring hundreds in each of the three matches and his series stats belong right up there among the greats as far the annals of New Zealand Test cricket is concerned.

The Mitchell-Blundell stands this series

A look into the records broken by Mitchell as the by the pair together in the series.

538 runs by Mitchell in the series makes him only the seventh New Zealand player to aggregate 500-plus runs in a Test series. Mitchell's tally is the most by a New Zealand batter in a series in the last 50 years since Glenn Turner amassed 672 runs in the Caribbean in 1972.

Michell also happens to be the third New Zealand batter (and first to do so away from home) to hit three hundreds in a series after Andrew Jones against Sri Lanka in 1991 and Ross Taylor against West Indies in 2013.

Most runs in a Test series for New Zealand

5 Mitchell became the first New Zealand player to score fifty or more in five consecutive innings. He started off the series with scoring 13 in the first innings at Lord's and followed it up with scores of 108, 190, 62*, 109 and 56 in his subsequent innings. Nine other New Zealanders have previously scored 50+ in four successive innings, Bevan Congdon doing it twice.

3 Only three players have aggregated more runs in a series than Mitchell's 538 batting at number five or below in a series of three or fewer Tests. Doug Walters hit 623 runs against West Indies in 1969, Michael Clarke 576 against South Africa in 2012 and Andy Flower 540 in just two Tests against India in 2000.

9 Mitchell became the ninth player (and the first to do it away) to score hundreds in each match of a series of three or more Tests. Mitchell also became the fifth New Zealand player to hit hundreds in three successive Tests after Mark Burgess, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, and Tom Latham.

Hundreds in each Test of a series

Records broken by Mitchell-Blundell pair in the series

4 Mitchell and Blundell became the fifth pair to hit four or more century stands in a single series and the second pair to do so in a series of three or fewer matches after Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf against India in 2006. The most 100+ stands by a New Zealand pair in a series previously was three by Andrew Jones and Shane Thomson against Sri Lanka at home in 1990/91.

Most 100+ partnerships in a series

1 Mitchell and Blundell is the only New Zealand pair to aggregate 600-plus runs in a series. Their tally of 724 runs in six innings is a distant first surpassing 552 runs by Andrew Jones and Martin Crowe - of which 467 came in one partnership - against Sri Lanka at home in 1991.

Most partnership runs in a series for New Zealand

724 partnership runs by Mitchell and Blundell is the highest aggregate by a pair for fifth wicket or later in a series. They beat 723 runs by Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the five-Test rubber against India at home in 2022. Overall, Mitchell and Blundell pair accounted for nealy 38% of all the runs scored by the visitors across the three Tests.

2 Mitchell and Blundell is only the second pair to score 100-plus partnerships for sixth wicket or later in each innings of a Test when they hit 120 and 113 in the final Test in Leeds. They emulated Gus Logie and Jeff Dujon who scored 130 and 131 for the sixth wicket against England at Lord's in 1988.