Joe Root's epic double century was the main talking point of Day 4 in the second Test in Hamilton as England surpassed New Zealand's 375 in the first innings by 101 runs before the Kiwis lost two wickets for not too many by the end of day's play. 

Root continued a knock befitting the tag of a leader and found another able partner in Ollie Pope (75) through a fantastic 193-run sixth-wicket stand that threatened to completely push the Black Caps into a dark corner after centurion Rory Burns had added 177 runs for the third wicket with his captain the day earlier. 

This was Root's third double century in Test match cricket as he just fell short of breaking his own highest score of 254 against Pakistan getting out off Tim Southee when he was batting 226. 

Once Root fell, though, the lower-order just collapsed with the England innings ending on 476 after a decent lead on the board. 

Neil Wagner returned with figures of 5/124 while Southee (2/90) and Matt Henry (1/87) also chipped in. 

The hosts then came out to bat in the second innings under pressure to overcome the deficit and immediately lost first innings centurion Tom Latham (18) and other opener Jeet Raval (0). But thankfully, skipper Kane Williamson (37*) and Ross Taylor (31*) didn't let England make further inroads through a yet unbeaten 68-run third-wicket stand. 

Sam Curran (1/26) and Chris Woakes (1/8) got the two breakthroughs. 

Brief Scores: 

New Zealand 375 & 96/2 in 34 overs (Kane Williamson 37*; Chris Woakes 1/8) still trail England 476/10 in 162.5 overs (Joe Root 226; Neil Wagner 5/124) by five runs.