By: Mohit Singhal
ENG VS NZ: Joe Root may have resigned from the red ball captaincy of England a few weeks ago but his role to be the most dependable and prolific batter for his side isn’t minimized as once again it was him who stood tall against the impeccable bowling line-up of Blackcaps after a batting collapse top of the order.
In an intense chase of 277 runs at “Home of Cricket”, it was the former captain who held his nerves tight and helped his side cross the line with 5 wickets to spare and in the process, also raced to his 26th Test ton and 10,000 runs mark in test cricket.
The 31-year-old Yorkshire man completed his 26th test ton and 5th century at the Lords stadium.
This hundred will be much more memorable for him considering it came in the fourth innings of a successful run-chase.
Ex-skipper found an able partner in current skipper Ben Stokes (54) and wicket-keeper Ben Foakes who ensured no more damage with rock-solid defence.
Root faced 170-odd deliveries in his masterclass knock of unbeaten 115 runs which consisted of 12 boundaries.
ENG VS NZ: Root completes 10,000 run mark in test cricket
The fab-4 member Root completed the 10K mark in test cricket becoming only 2nd English cricketer after Sir Alastair Cook (12,472 at 45.4) and 14th overall to achieve this feat.
He also becomes the first batsman in test history to reach this milestone in less than 10 years of cricket.
The whole cricketing world turned up to the social media to praise the English veteran of his feat and assumed he can be a threat to Sachin Tendulkar’s unachievable standards.
The triumph marked the winning start for the new duo of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum after the resignation of their former captain Joe Root after a horrific show on Caribbean soil and in the Ashes series down under.
There were huge expectations from this new pair to resurface the drowning English side and the duo with the right hand of Root made it worth. However, there are still many areas for them to improve in eliminating the batting collapse that happened in the first innings as well as in 2nd innings too before Root came to the rescue.
They are now leading the three-match test series 1-0 with the second game to start on 10th June at Trent Bridge.