First LV = Insurance Test, Lord (Fourth Day) New Zealand 132 (Pots 4-13, Anderson 4-66) & 285 (Mitchell 108, Blundell 96) England 141 (Southee 4-55) & 279-5 (Root, Stokes) 54; Jamieson 4-59) England won by five gates; leading series 1-0Scorecard
Joe Ruth’s masterful age led England to a five-goal victory in the first test against New Zealand on the fourth morning at Lord’s.
Root, who finished 115 without out, also became England’s second fighter after Sir Alistair Cook, who reached 10,000 test runs.
From 216-5 in one night, 61 less than their goal of 277, the hosts were led to victory by Root’s unbeaten sixth goal of 120 with Ben Fox, who made 32 without an out.
Despite the challenge of the gloomy conditions, the couple from England were confident all the time, removing the tension from what could be annoying in the morning.
When Rout drew Tim Southey to victory, he completed a remarkable 69-4 turnaround on the third afternoon and finally gave England a test win after just one in their previous 17 games.
The success also gave a new start to new captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendan McCallum.
For New Zealand, the world champions in the tests, seven games without defeat against England ended.
The second match of the series with three tests starts at Trent Bridge on Friday.
The boy in history, Root, wins it for England
Even when England fell apart in the last months of his captaincy, Ruth became the best test in the world.
Here, in his first test, after giving up the lead, he gave another demonstration of his class and confirmed his importance to this English team.
On a murky morning with the spotlights on, Root went on to 77 and continued to struggle with the urgency he showed late Saturday night.
He was lucky enough to pass his stumps more than once, but when he cut Southee to the middle of the door to reach three figures, he also became the 14th person in the history of the test to reach the 10,000-run mark.
At 31 years and 157 days, he equals Cook’s record as the youngest man to reach the cornerstone, and is also the first to do so less than 10 years after his debut – his 118th test. since first playing against India in 2012.
Remarkably, given his career achievements, this was Root’s first hundred in the fourth inning of the test.
He received great support from Foakes, who made his most significant contribution with the bat in a hundred in his debut against Sri Lanka in 2018.
The Wicketkiper scored more freely from the third night, taking advantage of an attack by New Zealand, which was trying to use the conditions over their heads to their advantage.
New Zealand may have hoped for a boost from the second new ball – 15 overs available during the day – but England have made such rapid progress that it never made it.
And when Root hit three limits in one Southee over, he completed the third biggest chase to win a test at this famous place.
The former captain went to the applause of the audience, wiping tears from his eyes as a great winner in the match of England.
England prevails in the thriller of the Lord
This victory must be a huge boost to morale for England, not only because of the victorious start in the Stokes-McCulloom era or their terrible recent form, but also because of the way the hosts responded after looking confident they would be defeated.
New Zealand started the third day with 227 runs ahead, just for England to take the last six gates of tourists from the second inning for 34 runs. When England suffered another top-class crash, they were in danger of giving up a heavy defeat before Ruth, Stokes and Fox won a memorable victory.
In fact, the new leadership will not have learned much this week. England’s bowling is dangerous when the ball is moving, and often toothless when it is not, and cotton is highly dependent on the Roots and Stokes. At least one big improvement came in England’s game.
The challenge for Stokes and McCallum is to build on that, or to improve players who are struggling at this level, or to identify some who are more likely to succeed.
As for New Zealand, it is typical of their fighting qualities that they ruled England so closely. They are a team in transition after some key withdrawals, had poor preparation for this match and at one point on the first day were 45-7, but still almost won.
In fact, given their position at different times on Saturday, Black Hats will feel as if they should have triumphed. If Colin de Grand had not exceeded when he played bowling Stokes, when there was only one, they probably would have done so. Stokes continued with the decisive 54.
Tourists will probably be better when they arrive in Nottingham, which means that England will have to find further improvement to win this series.
England have added spinning foot Matt Parkinson, who made his debut in the Lord’s test as a substitute for Jack Leach with a shock, to his team for the second test.
The slow left-handed Leach remains on the team, but there is no doubt that he will be ready in time, as he suffers a “gradual return to play” after suffering symptoms of a concussion when falling on the first day.
Root “excited” by the new look. The test country after the victory over New Zealand
“It’s nice to do it for Ben” – a reaction
England captain Ben Stokes told BBC Sport: “Playing at Lord’s is special, but coming out victorious after the way it flowed and flowed was brilliant.
“Mr. Reliable Joe Route was amazing. I’m so happy for him. And the return of Broad and Anderson was such an impetus. They are such an inspiration. It was special to see them running with their knees raised to move the crowd.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson in Test Match Special: “We were hoping for an early break, but it didn’t have to be. Root is hard to reject, he played extremely well. We had opportunities. It wasn’t meant to be.”
England beat Joe Root, on TMS: “It feels good. It was a hell of a game and this game to stay in Shane Warne’s memory with such aggressive cricket is appropriate in many ways.
“I feel great. That means a huge amount for the band and it was nice to do it for Ben. He’s done it for me so many times over the years that it was nice to give it back to him today.”
Former England captain Michael Vaughn on TMS: “It’s amazing what a win 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 gives a boost to the younger players. A lot of them didn’t know what it was like to win a test match for England.”
“Amazing” root age “huge” for England
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