Ben Stokes won his first Test as England skipper on Sunday. Riding on Joe Root’s 26th red-ball century, the hosts managed to beat New Zealand by five wickets at the Lord’s Stadium, London. 

The Stokes-McCullum era started off with a much-needed win for England. The Three Lions had won only one of their last 17 Tests ahead of the three-match series vs the Kiwis. They had lost the Ashes 4-0 and faced a 1-0 defeat in the Caribbean. With a new skipper and coach, the English Test side dominated most of the first Test. They lead the series 1-0. 

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Root was on fire. The former England skipper went on to score 115 runs in 170 balls. The 31-year-old stitched an unbeaten 120-run stand with wicket-keeper Ben Foakes after the team was down at 69/4. They chased the 277-run target under 80 overs. 

England started Day 4 with 61 runs to win and five wickets in hand. They did not give Kane Williamson’s men a sniff in the first session as they chased the target with ease. Joe Root became the 14th batter overall and the second from England to reach the 10000-run landmark in Tests. At 31 years and 157 days, he is the joint fastest to the feat along with retired England captain Alastair Cook. 

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Talking about Root and debutant Matthew Potts, who took seven wickets in the game, in the post-match presentation, Stokes said, “To score 10000 runs and a century in the fourth innings, what a player and what a man. He (Potts) took a wicket almost every time he came on, he’s got amazing attitude about the game and it is very exciting to see such a good start.”

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“Hopefully it will continue. We know it’s not gonna happen overnight, it will take time but its about those little things. The way Lees and Bairstow played, even for a brief period, that’s the kind of attitude we want. Broad and Anderson were really good, inspiring us to do many great things,” he added.