England vs New Zealand 1st Test Day 1: Root and Stokes lead England’s counter-attack

Root hit 11 boundaries during his innings of 98

Root hit 11 boundaries during his innings of 98

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

England batsman Joe Root scored 98 and all-rounder Ben Stokes made 92 to help their side fight back on the first day of the first Test at Lord’s.

Root and Stokes were well supported by wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler, who made 67.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum would have been delighted with his decision to bowl first as England were reduced to 30/4 in the 13th over.

Root and Stokes stemmed the bleeding with a 161-run partnership, during which both batsmen brought up their half-centuries, before Stokes was clean bowled by Mark Craig.

Stokes’ excellent knock of 92 came off 94 balls and included 15 boundaries and a six.

Stokes played some superb strokes during his knock of 92

Stokes played some superb strokes during his knock of 92

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Root and Buttler kept the runs flowing with a 60-run partnership before Root was caught by Tom Latham off the bowling of debutant Matt Henry.

Root’s brilliant innings of 98 came off 161 deliveries and included 11 boundaries.

England’s dominance with the bat continued as Buttler and Moeen Ali amassed a 103-run partnership, during which Buttler registered his half-century, before he was given out lbw on the last ball of the day, which was bowled by Trent Boult.

Buttler reviewed the decision immediately, but replays showed that the ball was pitching in line and going on to crash into middle stump. This led to the third umpire upholding the original decision.

Buttler’s solid knock of 67 came off 126 balls and included nine boundaries.

Buttler kept England steady towards the latter part of the day

Buttler kept England steady towards the latter part of the day

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Play was brought to an end for the day right after Buttler’s dismissal.

Ali remained undefeated on 49 off 92 balls, which included eight boundaries.

Henry was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Boult snapped up two and Craig and Tim Southee claimed one wicket each.

England ended day one on 354/7 and will continue batting tomorrow at 11:00 local time or 10:00 GMT.

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