Former captain leads England to victory

In his first match after relinquishing the captaincy, Joe Root has hit an unnbeaten century to give England a five wicket win over New Zealand at Lords.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson says his side must move on quickly from the loss after the touring side let a winning position slip at Lords to go 1-0 down in the three-match series.

New Zealand were in a commanding position as they led by 242 runs in their second innings with six wickets remaining, but lost three in three balls to open the door for England to fight back and, in the end, complete a comfortable victory.

Joe Root celebrates hitting the winning runs
Photo: Matthew Impey / www.photosport.nz

The hosts came into the fourth day needing another 61 runs and eased to the win in dark and gloomy conditions as Joe Root (115 not out) and Ben Foakes (32 not out) put together an excellent unbeaten sixth-wicket stand of 120.

The New Zealand captain hailed the innings of Root as the turning-point in the game and praised the England batsman for passing 10,000 test runs.

“It was a fantastic game of cricket which took an incredible innings from an amazing player to get them across the line. It’s truly an unbelievable achievement, recognising the quality of the player and also his longevity.”

Joe Root’s hunger to succeed with England burns as bright as ever as he welcomed “a new phase of my career” following a masterful unbeaten 115 carried the side to the five- wicket victory.

Root reluctantly resigned the captaincy this year and was replaced by Ben Stokes, but in scoring his 26th test century and becoming the 14th batsman to pass 10,000 runs, he quickly underlined his continuing importance to the side.

He shared an unbeaten partnership of 120 for the sixth wicket with Ben Foakes to lead the hosts to a tough victory target of 277.

“It feels fantastic, more than anything for us to have won this test match after such a long time. It has been a tough road, but the way everyone has gone about this week has been so enjoyable,” Root said.

“I’m really looking forward to the rest of the summer and hopefully we can use this as a way to move forward as a group now.”

England won only one of Root’s last 17 tests as captain, despite his own impressive form with the bat, and he hopes to help Stokes and new coach Brendon McCullum kick off a successful era for the test team.

“You look at the amount of times Ben won test matches under my leadership, it is a great opportunity for me to try and give back to him. It was nice to do it for him today,” Root said.

“It feels like a big weight has been lifted. It’s time for a new phase in my career.

“I could not wish for a better person to be leading this team, so I will do everything I can to see us be a successful test team again.”

Since beating India in the final of the World Test Championship in England almost exactly a year ago, New Zealand have lost a series to the Indians, and been held to home series draws with Bangladesh and South Africa.

The second test begins at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Friday, giving little time for the touring side to lick their wounds, with question marks over the fitness of all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme, who only bowled 3.5 overs in England’s second innings due to a heel injury.

-Reuters