Jacob Bethell's gamble pays off with rich dividends for England on New Zealand tour

The 21-year-old player, who had never batted above number four in a first-class match before making his test debut, showcased his skills by scoring a crucial half-century to secure an eight-wicket victory in Christchurch. He followed this up with a remarkable knock of 96 in a dominant 323-run win in Wellington.

"I know there was a bit made of Beth batting at three with his inexperience and the lack of first class cricket batting at the top of the order," Stokes said in his post-match press conference.

"But you know, me and (coach Brendon McCullum) don't think like that. You have a young lad with so much potential and so much talent, why not let him go out there and expose himself to test cricket at its toughest?

"If he hadn't batted in the top three, he wouldn't have slapped 50 odd (in Christchurch), which I've got no doubt led him into this game with the confidence to go out there and play the way that he did in our second innings."

Bethell got his chance because of the absence of wicketkeeper Jamie Smith and an injury to his replacement Jordan Cox, forcing Ollie Pope to drop down the order from number three to take the gloves.

Even if he does want to return to first-drop, the rejig also worked out well for Pope with scores of 77 in the first test and 66 in the second as he built key partnerships with Harry Brook.

The only regret for Stokes was that Bethell, who made his England debuts in the shorter formats in September, failed to secure his maiden century at Basin Reserve.

"I was devastated for him to not get that three figures," Stokes added.

"I walked in and I said to him, 'it's only four runs, isn't it?' And his response was, 'yeah, but it would have been flare if I'd smacked that through the covers to bring it up'. Class.

"He's proved a lot to a lot of people and proved why we rate him so highly."