Twitter Reactions: Joe Root bails England out of trouble as New Zealand lose momentum

New Zealand have set a target of 277 for England to win the Test.

By Manoj Kumar

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3 Min Read

Joe Root
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Joe Root. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

An exciting day was on the cards on the third day at Lord’s and to that statement, as many as 11 wickets fell on the day. It’s that man again, Joe Root, who played a remarkable knock. The former England skipper will hold the key for hosts on Day 4 as he has a great chance of taking his side home. Meanwhile, the Three Lions need 61 runs to win the opening Test and New Zealand now need to put up a miraculous effort to avoid a defeat.

Earlier, the New Zealand side resumed Day 3 at 236/4 with Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell at the crease. Mitchell after starting the day at 97, reached a magnificent century but soon perished after that for a well made 108. Colin de Grandhomme came to the crease and he was run out straightaway in his very first ball. Stuart Broad cleaned up Kyle Jamieson in the very next delivery to complete a team hat-trick for England in the 84th over.

The Kiwis lost all the momentum they had and it could not have been a better start to the day for the hosts. Blundell got close to his century with good support from Southee. However, a brilliant delivery from James Anderson caught the wicketkeeper batter LBW in front of the stumps. Hence, he ended up four runs short of a century. Southee added some valuable runs with a 26-ball 21 as the visitors ended up getting bowled out for 285 in their second innings.

Joe Root and Ben Stokes keep England in the hunt

Broad and Potts were the picks of the bowlers for the hosts with three wickets each while Anderson and Parkinson were also among the wickets. Chasing a target of 277 to win, England got off to a decent start with Alex Lees finding the gaps consistently. However, he was undone by a beauty from Kyle Jamieson for 20 while Zak Crawley followed him soon for nine. Ollie Pope (10) and Jonny Bairstow (16) continued their struggles from the first innings, and once again were removed early.

At 69/4, England desperately needed their former skipper and the current skipper to build a good partnership and the duo stepped up again as usual. Stokes (54) reached his half-century quickly but after adding 90 runs for the fifth wicket, the all-rounder returned to the dressing room. Root continued his promising start from the other end and went past the half-century mark.

Towards the end of the day, he found a lot of boundaries and stayed unbeaten on 77 off 131 balls while Ben Foakes has faced so far 48 deliveries for his nine runs. England need 61 runs more to win the first Test with five wickets in hand.

Here’s how the Twitter reacted to the third day’s play:

https://twitter.com/harshadkolhe18/status/1533151136769019904

https://twitter.com/YouBearsssssss/status/1533151598486114304

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