England Begin Stokes-McCullum Era With A Win Over New Zealand In 1st Test

Joe Root smashed his 26th test century as England beat New Zealand by five wickets.

England began their new era in test cricket with a comfortable five-wicket win over New Zealand in the first test match of the three-match series played at Lord's, London. Former England captain Joe Root slammed his 26th test century to finish the game for his team in the first session of day 4 of the test match. 

Root's efforts were well supported by new captain Ben Stokes, who struck a half-century after England got reduced to 69/4 while chasing a target of 277 runs to win. Stokes' 54 came during a 90-run stand with Root for the fifth wicket. Ben Foakes continued where his captain left as he added unbeaten 32 runs to complete the game. 

These kinds of batting conditions weren't available for the first two days of the test match though. New Zealand had decided to bat first after winning the toss but they were in for a nightmarish start as they got bundled out for 132 inside two sessions on the first day itself. 

James Anderson and Stuart Broad took the new ball in their comeback test match and came in with an attacking approach as they pitched up the ball for the Kiwi batters to play. Debutant Mathew Potts too rocked the New Zealand batting order with his pace at hard lengths as the visitors lost wickets in packs. If it wasn't for Colin de Grandhomme's unbeaten 42, New Zealand wouldn't have reached 132. 

England had a terrific start and it looked like even the batters have got influenced by Stokes-McCullum's duo but it turned out to be a 'throwback Thursday' as the batting collapsed from 75/1 at one stage to 141 all out. 

The Anderson, Broad, and Potts trio were once again right on the money as New Zealand were once again down to 56/4 before Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell saved them from another embarrassing batting collapse. 

Mitchell scored 108 and Blundell made 96 as the duo added 195 runs for the fifth wicket in 366 balls to not only pull New Zealand out of trouble but also set them up for a competitive total to defend. However, a three-wicket over from Broad made the Kiwis once again lose the plot as they only added 34 runs for the last five wickets and got bowled out for 285. 

The test saw a redemption of the Anderson-Broad duo who picked 10 wickets in two innings among each other while also had a glimpse of what debutant Potts had to offer who finished the test match with 7 wickets in total. 

For New Zealand, Kyle Jamieson picked up six wickets, and Trent Boult and Tim Southee shared eight. 

Brief Scorecard:

New Zealand - 132/10 & 285/10 
England - 141/10 & 279/5