New Delhi: Joe Root stood tall along with Ben Stokes on the second day as England accumulated a massive lead over New Zealand in the second Test match at the Basin Reserve. When stumps were called on Day 2, England were leading the Kiwis by 533 runs with five wickets in hand. Root was unbeaten on 73 while Stokes was at 35 as the visitors looked well poised in the match at 378/5.
Root etched his name in the history books on Saturday after reaching his 100th score of 50 or more in the longest format of the game. The legendary English batter, who holds the top spot in the Test rankings, reached his 65th half-century in Tests, which goes along with 35 hundreds, becoming the fourth player after Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting to achieve the milestone.
Massive task for Kiwis
With England in a commanding position in the Wellington Test match, New Zealand will have to work very hard to achieve the highest successful fourth innings chase in Test history when the visitors declare on the third day. With the visitors leading the series 1-0 after bagging a victory by eight wickets in the opening Test match in Christchurch, it becomes imperative for the Black Caps to win the Test match and level the series.
In reply to New Zealand’s first innings score of 125 runs, England showed up in their first innings earlier amassing a score of 280, with a considerable lead of 155 runs. Meanwhile, for the hosts, it will be a difficult task to achieve the record total as the English won’t declare before crossing the 600-run mark in the second innings. The record successful fourth innings total currently sits at 418, achieved by the West Indies against Australia at St. John’s in the Caribbean 21 years ago.
Meanwhile for the Kiwis, Tim Southee and Matt Henry claimed two wickets each while Glenn Phillips also contributed with a wicket. For England, Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell stood up for the side before Root came into play with scores remarkable knocks of 92 and 96 runs respectively.
Joe Root stood tall as England continued their dominance over New Zealand on the second day of the second Test match at the Basin Reserve. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
