Published: May 21, 2015, 08:13 PM (IST)
Edited: May 21, 2015, 11:21 PM (IST)
Joe Root steadied the England innings with Jos Buttler as the side ended their second session of the Day One in first Test against New Zealand at 219 for the loss of five wickets. Root inched closer to his Test century and was not out on 80 from 134 balls. Buttler was not out on 13 from 35 balls. Read: England vs New Zealand, 1st Test, Day 1 Lunch report
Root played a very slow and safe innings as he let Ben Stokes do all the talking with the bat. Root scored 31 runs in the second session compared to his 49 runs in the first session. Live Updates: England vs New Zealand, 1st Test, Lord’s, Day 1
A misjudgement by Stokes and Mark Craig bowled the batsman for 92, as his dreams of a Test hundred at Lord’s came to an end. Stokes expected the ball to turn away, however, the ball did not and hit the off stump. Stokes was involved with 161 runs partnership from 195 balls with Root for the fifth wicket. Live Scorecard: England vs New Zealand, 1st Test, Lord’s, Day 1
Earlier, New Zealand pacers Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Matt Henry wreck havoc as the England top-order stumbled gracefully in a very short span of time. At one point, England had lost four wickets with the scores at 30. Moeen Ali, who was batting at the nets, was seen running back to the dressing room. Even batting coach Mark Ramprakash looked in distress. New Zealand’s Test match at Lord’s against England is their 400th
However, Root and Stokes steered the English innings back. Stokes waited no time to let lose as he nicked few boundaries. As England went for lunch, Root was one run short of his half-century. England-New Zealand play 100th Test
Henry picked up two wickets in the first session of the match, as Boult and Southee shared one wicket each. Skipper Brendon McCullum was seeing making regular changes in the field and he kept rotating his pacers.
Brief scores:
England 219 for 5 (Joe Root 80*, Ben Stokes 92; Matt Henry 2 for 63) vs New Zealand.
(Sudatta Mukherjee is a reporter with CricketCountry. Other than writing on cricket, she spends penning random thoughts on her blog. When she is not writing, you will catch her at a movie theatre or watching some English television show on her laptop. Her Twitter handle is @blackrosegal)
