2nd Test Day 4: Draw seems likely as Root hits 226 for England against New Zealand

A draw seemed the most likely result of the 2^nd Test .at the close of play on the 4^th day, between New Zealand and England, despite a battling double hundred from England captain, Joe Root.

Match Summary

New Zealand 375 – (Tom Latham 105, Ross Taylor 53, BJ Watling 55, Daryl Mitchell 73; Stuart Broad 4- 73) and 96-2

England – 476 (Rory Burns 101, Joe Root 226, Ollie Pope 75; Tim Southee 2-90, Neil Wagner 5-124)

At the Close - New Zealand trail England by 5 runs with 8 wickets remaining

Scorecard

After Joe Root’s sensational double ton, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor stitched an unbeaten half-century stand to reduce England’s lead to five runs on day four of the Hamilton Test.#NZvENG report ?? https://t.co/C1CjAu9KU1

— ICC (@ICC) December 2, 2019

With rain due to fall most of the final day, a draw seems the inevitable outcome of this Test match, however, we can reflect a little on Joe Root’s innings.

Root Stat Attack

His double century, off 412 balls, was the slowest for England since Dennis Amiss' 432-ball effort against West Indies in 1974.

His previous highest Test score away from home was 182 not out in the West Indies in 2015.

He is now the 10th leading Test run-scorer for England.

Only three Englishman have more Test double hundreds: Wally Hammond (7), Cook (5) and Hutton (4).

New Zealand bowler Neil Wagner, who took 5-124, commented after the close of play: "We had to graft really hard. I was lucky enough to get the rewards. I felt a bit sorry for the other guys because they bowled well without much luck. A big shout goes to the other bowlers.

"It will be tough. We don't want to look too far ahead of ourselves. We want to get in a good position first and once you earn the right to strike that is when you can try to dictate terms."

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Match Details

New Zealand - Tom Latham, Jeet Raval, Kane Williamson(c), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling(wk), Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Neil Wagner

England - Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Joe Denly, Joe Root(c), Ben Stokes, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope(wk), Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad

Start Time: 22:00

Toss: England won the toss and decided to field

Venue: Seddon Park, Hamilton

Officials: Handunnettige Dharmasena, Paul Wilson, Bruce Oxenford, Wayne Knights, Javagal Srinath

 

 

 

 ©Cricket World 2019