England and New Zealand are playing some of the best test cricket that has been seen for a while. The English side have a new coach and captain for their test side in, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. The three lions had won the first at Lord’s despite being pushed to the corner. The win was down to the brilliance of one man who goes by the name Joe Root. The 31 year old not only kept his run scoring feats going, but also became the joint youngest to score 10,000 test runs.
Joe Root’s drive leaves the fans impressed –
New Zealand batting first had scored a huge 553 on the board, thanks to a career best 190 from Daryl Mitchell. Tom Blundell also scored a century as the defending WTC champs racked up huge runs on the board. Joe Root walked into bat with the score reading 147, with Alex Lees having fallen for 67 to Matt Henry. Henry steamed into bowl and Joe Root played a beautifully timed drive down the ground. Everything was perfect about the shot, right from the footwork to the balance of the head to the position of the elbow. This shot showed the class of Root as a batter and the confidence he is having at this point.
Describe this shot in one word...
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 12, 2022
We'll start, textbook 😍
Scorecard/clips: https://t.co/GJPwJC59J7
🏴 #ENGvNZ 🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/8jlc4ZVSWR
Ollie Pope gets to his 2nd test ton –
Zak Crawley had fallen during the end of day 2 to Boult for 4, from there Lees and Pope added 141 for the 2nd wicket. This was Lees first half century in test cricket as he fell to Henry caught by Mitchell. Pope and Root then added 187 in 40 overs of amazing batting on a hot day at Trent Bridge. Pope scored his 2nd test century and made his best score of 145, overtaking his previous best of 131 against South Africa. Pope scored 145 off 239 balls with 13 fours and 3 sixes before Boult had him caught by Henry.
The runs keep flowing for Root as England on a strong note –
Joe Root who had scored his 26th test ton in the final innings at Lord’s, made it century number 27 as he was not out on 163 from 200 balls with 25 fours. Root has made batting look easy and has kept his amazing run with the bat going. Ben Stokes came out with all intent as he scored 46 off 33 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. England ended the day on 473 for 5 with Foakes on 24 not out and still trailing the kiwis by 80. It was will be great day 4 at Nottingham as the fans could flock to see how much Root ends up with.