England win first Test against New Zealand by five wickets, after superb century from Joe Root
- Sean Fisher
- 5 June 2022
Joe Root looked unaffected by his loss of captaincy at Lord's, with his unbeaten 115 helping a new-look England side to a five-wicket win over New Zealand.
Former captain Joe Root stole the headlines on Sunday afternoon, with the 31-year-old managing 115 from 170 to help his successor Ben Stokes to make a winning start to life as England captain.
England resumed the fourth morning on 216-5, 61 short of the 277 target. But while it could have been a nerve-shredding morning for the hosts, Root and Ben Foakes put on a masterful display to wrap up the victory.
Foakes deserves credit for his unbeaten 32, with the Surrey wicket-keeper holding up his end of the deal when it came to drowning out the Kiwi attack.
Remarkably, Root's unbeaten 115 marked his first ever fourth-innings century, and the 31-year-old entered his name into the record books by becoming just the second Englishman to reach 10,000 Test runs.
A hero's welcome for @Root66! 👏
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 5, 2022
🏴 #ENGvNZ 🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/V7wa3aJt1a
He's joined in the prestigious club by Sir Alistair Cook, who amazingly also managed the feat at exactly 31 years and 157 days old.
Root's 26th Test century was achieved in style too, with the former England captain defying troublesome conditions at Lord's to fire his side to victory.
Thick, grey clouds overhead resulted in the floodlights glaring from the very first delivery, but it didn't seem to faze the Yorkshire batter, who hit 12 fours en route to his 115 total.
After wrapping up the win and being named Player of the Match, Root insisted the win was more important to him than his 10,000th Test run.
"Obviously it feels fantastic. More than anything, first of all, for us to have won this Test match after such a long time is the greatest feeling of all," said Root.
"It's been a tough road for everyone but the way everyone has gone about it has been so enjoyable. I've really enjoyed it and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the summer.
WHAT A MAN!! 🦁🦁🦁
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 5, 2022
A huge win to start the summer!
🏴 #ENGvNZ 🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/LYe4AJUn50
"Hopefully we can really use this as a way to leap forward as a group."
The second Test starts on June 10 at Trent Bridge, as England look to build on their momentum.
