England registered a 5-wicket win over New Zealand in the first of the three-Test series which was played at Lord’s. Set a target of 277 runs to win, the Ben Stokes-led England side comfortably reached the target thanks to an exquisite ton by Joe Root.
The former England captain remained not out on 115 with 12 fours, while new captain Ben Stokes made 54 runs as England resumed from 216/5 on the fourth day. Ben Foakes remained not out on 32 runs.
The match saw quite a turnaround in the second innings after New Zealand was bowled out for 132 in the first innings, with James Anderson and debutant Matthew Potts taking 4 wickets each. England replied with 141, with Tim Southee taking 4/55 and Trent Boult taking 3 wickets.
New Zealand did well in the second innings, scoring 285 with Daryl Mitchell making 108 and Tom Blundell making 96 runs. This time Stuart Broad and Matthew Potts took 3 wickets each, with the debutant ending up with 7 wickets to his name.
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England had found themselves in trouble in the chase at 69/4, but then Stokes (54) added 90 runs with Joe Root for the 5th wicket, but he fell near the end of day four leaving a door open for New Zealand.
But on the final day, Joe Root took the charge and took the team to win easily and go 1-0 up in the series. This was his 26th Test ton for England, and during his knock, he completed 10,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the second England batter to achieve this feat after Sir Alastair Cook (12472 runs in 161 Tests).
He was overall the 14th batter to achieve this feat and was the fastest England batter to the milestone in 218 innings, beating Cook's record of 229 innings.
The cricket fraternity was all praises for Joe Root and England as they won the match by 5 wickets.
Here are the tweets:
