First LV = Insurance Test, Lord’s (day four) New Zealand 132 (Potts 4-13, Anderson 4-66) and 285 (Mitchell 108, Blundell 96) England 141 (Southee 4-55) and 279-5 (Root 115 *, Stokes 54; Jamieson 4-59) England won by five wickets; Leadership Series 1-0 Scoring Card
Joe Root’s masterful century led England to win five ports in the first test against New Zealand on the fourth morning at Lord’s.
Root, who finished 115th without an out, also became England’s second hitter after Sir Alastair Cook in the 10,000 tests.
From 216-5 overnight, 61 less than their 277 goal, the home team was led to victory by Root’s undefeated 120th grandstand in sixth place with Ben Foakes, who made 32 no out .
Despite the challenge of the shady conditions, the English couple were assured all the time, moving away from the tension of what could have been a nervous morning.
When Root pulled Tim Southee to the winning limit, he completed a remarkable 69-4 turn in the third afternoon and finally gave England a test victory after a single in his previous 17 games.
The success also gave a winning start to new captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.
For New Zealand, the world champion in testing, a seven-match unbeaten streak against England is over.
The second game of the three-test series begins Friday at Trent Bridge.
The boy in the story Root wins it for England
Although England sank in the final months of his captaincy, Root became the world’s leading test hitter.
Here, in his first test since resigning, he gave another demonstration of his class and reaffirmed his importance to this England team.
On a cloudy morning, with the lights on, Root resumed the 77 and continued to baptize with the urgency he showed on Saturday night.
He was fortunate enough to pass through his stumps on more than one occasion, but when he cut Southee in the middle of the harbor to reach three figures, he also became the 14th man in the history of trials to reach the milestone of 10,000 executions.
At 31 years and 157 days, he equals Cook’s record as the youngest man to reach the milestone, and is also the first to do so less than 10 years after his debut: this is his 118th test since played for the first time against India in 2012..
Surprisingly, given the successes of his career, this was also the first hundredth of Root in the fourth inning of a test.
He received excellent support from Foakes, who made his most outstanding contribution with the bat from one hundred when making his debut against Sri Lanka in 2018.
The goalkeeper scored more freely than the third evening, taking advantage of a New Zealand attack that struggled to take advantage of the conditions above his advantage.
New Zealand could have expected a boost from the second new ball (available 15 overs a day), but England made such rapid progress that it never came.
And, when Root hit three limits on a Southee, he completed the third highest chase to win a test on that famous terrain.
The former skipper abandoned the cheers of the crowd, wiping away the tears from his eyes as the magnificent winner of the England match.
England prevails in the thriller Lord
This victory should be a great morale boost for England, not only because of the victorious start of the Stokes-McCullum era, or its terrible recent form, but also because of the way the hosts fought after they seemed safe. of being defeated.
New Zealand started the third day with 227 races ahead, with only England catching the last six second-entry ports for tourists for 34 races. When England suffered another first-rate collapse, they risked a heavy defeat before Root, Stokes and Foakes achieved a memorable victory.
In fact, the new management will have learned little this week. Bowls in England are dangerous when the ball moves and often toothless when it doesn’t, and batting depends heavily on Root and Stokes. At least a great improvement came to the fielding of England.
The challenge for Stokes and McCullum is to build on that, improve the players who fight at that level, or identify some who are more likely to succeed.
As for New Zealand, it is typical of its fighting qualities that ran England so close. It is a team in transition after some key withdrawals, they had little preparation for this match and at one point in the first day they were 45-7, yet almost winning.
In fact, given their position at different times on Saturday, the Black Caps will feel that they should have succeeded. If Colin de Grandhomme hadn’t excelled at Stokes bowling when he only had one, they probably would have. Stokes made a crucial 54.
Tourists are likely to be better off when they arrive in Nottingham, which means England will have to find more improvements to win this series.
England have added leg player Matt Parkinson, who made his Lord’s debut debut as a substitute for Jack Leach’s concussion, to his squad for the second test.
The slow left-handed Leach remains in the squad, but it is doubtful to be fit in time as he undergoes a “gradual return to play” after suffering symptoms of a concussion in a fall on the first day.
Root “excited” by the new look of the test team after the victory over New Zealand
“A pleasure to do for Ben” – reaction
England captain Ben Stokes told BBC Sport: “Playing Lord’s is special, but coming out on top after the way it went down and flowing was brilliant.
“Reliable Mr. Joe Root was amazing. I’m really happy for him. And having Broad and Anderson back was a big boost. They’re a great inspiration. Seeing them run with their knees up making the audience stand up be special “.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson told Test Match: “We were hoping to get a break early, but it wasn’t. It’s hard to say goodbye to Root. He played very well. We had chances. “It didn’t have to be.”
England batsman Joe Root told TMS: “It ‘s a nice feeling.
“I feel really good. It means a lot to the group and it was nice to do it for Ben. He’s done it for me so many times over the years that it’s been nice to give it back to him today.”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan told TMS: “It’s amazing what a victory can do for the group.
“Imagine if England had lost, there would have been a lot of pressure in Nottingham for these young players.
“Hopefully this will give a boost to the younger players. A lot of them didn’t know what it’s like to win a test match for England.”
“Amazing” Century root “huge” for England