First blood to England as Root steers hosts to a first test victory over New Zealand

Another majestic knock from former captain Joe Root led England to a five-wicket win in their first test against current World Test champions New Zealand at Lords.

The new reign of English test cricket with head coach Brendon McCullum and new skipper Ben Stokes celebrated only England’s second win in test cricket in their last 18 matches.

Root, who finished unbeaten on 115 , also became the second England batter – after Sir Alastair Cook – to reach 10,000 Test runs.

England started the fourth morning on 216-5 still 61 short of their target of 277. But thanks to Root and Ben Foakes’ unbroken stand of 120 for the sixth wicket, with Foakes making 32, the hosts got over the line to go 1-0 up in the series.

Day 1 –

On the opening morning of the test, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first. England gave a debut to Durham seamer Matty Potts and recalled the experienced duo of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Anderson was soon in the action with just the 13^th ball of the opening test of the summer when Will Young (1) edged the Lancashire pacemen to third slip where Jonny Bairstow took a fine catch diving to his right.

New Zealand lost their second wicket of the morning when Bairstow clung on to another tough chance at slip after initially failing to hold on to the first chance but clinging on to the rebound as Tom Latham(1) gave Anderson his second wicket.

It wasn’t long before Broad got into the action when that man Bairstow clung on to a low catch  with Devon Conway removed for 3 to leave New Zealand in a perilous position of 7 for 3.

Durham’s Potts who has been in sensational form for Durham in the second division picked up his debut wicket in international colours with his fifth ball in an England shirt when Kayne Williamson(4) edged to Foakes. Daryl Mitchell(13) played on to Potts as the Black caps slumped to 27-5.

Jack Leach had to leave the field after chasing a ball to the boundary and falling over an advertising board. After receiving treatment he had to leave the field and also was ruled out of the test with concussion, with leg spinner Matt Parkinson replacing him.

Shortly before lunch, Potts struck again to make it a debut to remember when he bowled Tom Blundell(14). New Zealand continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, slumping to 45-7, but were rescued by an unbeaten 42 from Colin de Grondomme and a cameo knock of 26 from Tim Southee.

They were dismissed for 132, with the last three wickets adding a useful 87 runs, as Potts finished with 4-13 and Anderson 4-66.

England openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley put on 59 for the first wicket before Crawley(43) edged Kyle Jamieson behind. The experiment of promoting Ollie Pope to number three failed when the Surrey batter went for seven.

New Zealand’s tails were up when they got the key wicket of Root(11) caught in the gully off de Grandhomme. Southee then bagged the wickets of Lees(25) and Stokes(1) caught behind as England lost five wickets for eight runs to slump to 98-5.

Trent Boult bowled Bairstow (1) and had Potts out for a duck as New Zealand closed the opening day on 116-7.

Day 2 –

The hosts added 25 for the last three wickets before being dismissed for 141, landing an overall lead of nine.

New Zealand’s second innings started badly when Young’s(1) miserable match continued after edging Anderson behind. Potts then removed Williamson(15) and Latham (14) to leave New Zealand at lunch 35-3, a lead of 29 runs.

When Broad removed Conway(13), England were on top. However, the World Test Champions proved their worth when Tom Blundell and Daryl Mitchell dug the Blackcaps out of a hole to end the day in a strong position of 236-4 with Mitchell three short of a century and Blundell on 90.

Day 3 –

It was down to Broad to break the partnership which had yielded 195 for the fifth wicket when he had Mitchell(108) caught behind. The next ball, de Grandhomme was run out without scoring and Jamieson was comprehensively bowled by the Notts paceman.

Blundell fell four short of three figures after being trapped lbw by Anderson. Potts removed Ajaz Patel(4) and with Parkinson having Southee caught for 21, New Zealand were bowled out for 285, leaving England 277 to win.

The excellent Jamieson bagged England’s first wicket when Lees(20) left alone a ball and was bowled on the stroke of lunch.

Shortly after lunch Crawley(9) fell to Jamieson and with Pope(10) bowled by Trent Boult, England were struggling on 46-3.

Jamieson struck again, removing Bairstow(16) as the Kiwis became favourites to draw first blood in the series.

The pivotal moment of the test came when Stokes was bowled from a no ball by de Grandhomme when he had just a single to his name. England profited from this let off with the new captain helping the old skipper with a stand of 90, before Stokes gloved behind off Jamieson for 54 to leave England 159-5.

By the close, an intriguing fourth day was in prospect with England closing on 216-5 with Root 77 not out and 61 more runs to win with the game evenly poised.

Day 4 –

It was all about Root, if he could remain then England would have a great chance of winning the test, and yet again he didn’t let the side down by steering England home to take an early lead in the three-match series, with the second test starting at Trent Bridge at the end of the week.

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