NEXT week, Test cricket lovers have one final chance to savour a series that has enthralled and delighted in equal measure. 

England host New Zealand at Headingley in the third and final Test of this unmissable series.

The game comes after the Brave New World of captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendan McCullum — aided by Jonny Bairstow’s remarkable quick-fire 136 off only 92 balls — led the home side to a second successive Test victory over a fine Kiwi team on Tuesday.

In a contest for the ages, England won by five wickets to clinch the three-match series — which really should be five Tests — after conceding 553 runs to the visitors in their first innings.

The Test simply must go down as one of the all-time greats, full of the ebbs and flows of gripping cricket while fuelling absorbing narratives. 

This included Ollie Pope’s redemptive 146, while Joe Root imperiously hit his 27th Test ton. Opener Alex Lees also weighed in with important runs at the top of both innings. Bairstow’s blitz sealed an unlikely win but, as the modest Stokes — who clubbed a powerful 46 from 33 balls first knock, while guiding the team home on one leg after striking 75 from 70 balls — said afterwards, it was a “real team effort.”

Let’s not forget Daryl Mitchell’s 190 and Tom Blundell’s ton as well as Trent Boult’s sterling 5-106 — meaning credit must go to the New Zealanders who gave their all in a series that has been played hard but fair — and in a great spirit too. 

More of the same is expected at Headingley. 

And despite the forthcoming rail strikes — because unions have the temerity to protect jobs and maintain safe working practices among other things — aficionados of the longer form of the game are already anticipating the series finale. 

From a personal point of view, I’ve been attending England vs New Zealand Test matches since 1986 — when as a wide-eyed youngster, I experienced my first-ever Test at Lord’s. 

Alas, I can’t recall too much about the legendary Martin Crowe’s century that day, but I can still picture in my mind’s eye the great Richie Benaud walking past us on the concourse at lunch — tall and immaculate in his cream suit — as Danny, my best friend at school, and me, stared on in awed silence.

Nearly four decades on Danny and I talked about such things last weekend, when at Trent Bridge with old and new pals. 

Beer and bonhomie flowed at one of my favourite grounds, where we were lucky to witness such a thrilling match.

I still remember being present at Trent Bridge when Jimmy Anderson took 7-43 against the Kiwi’s in 2008 on a rain-interrupted Saturday that saw stumps at 7.45pm – eventually prompting a change in the laws. 

Speaking of the Burnley Lara, I was lucky enough to be at the same venue for his spellbinding knock of 81 against India in 2014 — and nothing will ever convince me that if lunch hadn‘t intervened, England’s No11 would’ve scored a Test century. 

I could go on. In fact, Dan and I and others did just that when sat at the wonderfully appointed Trent Bridge watching a never-to-be forgotten match during a life-affirming weekend in Nottingham — with great sport and great company in a lively town aided by a bellyful of beer and laughs. 

Rail strikes? In an age of Tory lies and incompetence, good luck to the unions and the strikers. Dan and me will get to Yorkshire somehow. And judging by the quality of sport on offer during this wonderful series, we’ll live life to the full and enjoy it too. 

Roll on Headingley for more enthralling and delightful Test cricket between these two excellent sides.