Milestone man Root stars in England's win

The Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum era got off to the best possible start as England completed a comfortable five-wicket win over New Zealand in the opening Test at Lord's on Sunday (June 5). England, needing 61 runs to win the game, got the job done in the morning session with relative ease with Joe Root going past 10000 Test runs enroute his 26th ton in the format. With 15 overs left for the second new ball, England were on a mission to knock off as many runs as possible. Kyle Jamieson, New Zealand's most effective bowler in the second innings, came onto bowl as early as in the third over. But England kept chipping away and the moment the target came down to less than 50, they knew they were the outright favourites. Ben Foakes, who was very watchful by stumps on the third day, slowly grew in confidence and Root also moved into the nineties with a straight drive down the ground. Eventually, the century stand was brought up and Root reached his ton with a couple past the midwicket region. In the process, he became just the second Englishman after Alastair Cook to go past the 10000-run mark. The former skipper then smashed three fours in a single Tim Southee over to complete the win. New Zealand were left to rue their second innings collapse that completely changed the complexion of the Test match. They could have still been in control of this Test had Colin de Grandomme not delivered a no-ball when he castled Stokes early in his innings. The skipper went on to stroke a vital half-century to put England on the ascendancy again - a position they didn't squander. Brief scores: New Zealand 132 (Colin de Grandhomme 42*; James Anderson 4/66) & 285 (Daryl Mitchell 108; Matty Potts 3/55) lost to England 141 (Zak Crawley 43; Tim Southee 4/55) & 279/5 (Joe Root 115*; Kyle Jamieson 4/79) by 5 wickets