Oval Test: Joe Root became an obstacle in New Zealand’s path to victory, played record innings

London: On the fourth day of the second Test match being played at The Oval, New Zealand has strengthened its position and taken a huge lead over England. In the match, England got a huge target of 463 runs to win, but till the end of the day’s play, the host team was seen struggling, losing 5 wickets for 182 runs. England still needs 281 runs to win, while New Zealand needs 5 wickets to level the series.

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historic achievement of joe root

England’s experienced batsman Joe Root once again tried to get the team out of a difficult situation. He remained at the crease after scoring unbeaten 75 runs and was seen trying to control his team. During this time, he created history by crossing the mark of 14,000 runs in Test cricket and became the second player in the world to do so.

Root came to the crease at a time when England had a very bad start and the team had lost 2 wickets for just 13 runs. Not only this, the British had lost 3 wickets at the score of 40 runs. After this, Root along with Harry Brook took the score forward in an aggressive manner, but the team kept losing wickets at frequent intervals.

England’s batting faltered

The start of England’s innings was disappointing. Young batsman Emilio Gay played some good shots, but was caught out by Kyle Jamieson. After this, Jacob Bethel returned to the pavilion without opening the account, while Ben Duckett also got out early after playing a wrong shot.

Joe Root and Harry Brook batted aggressively for some time in the middle order. Brook scored at a fast pace and played a brilliant inning of 58 runs, in which he also completed his half-century in 33 balls. However, Matthew Henry broke the partnership by dismissing him.

Dominance of New Zealand bowlers

New Zealand’s bowlers performed disciplined throughout the day. Kyle Jamieson consistently bowled on the right line and length and took important wickets. He further weakened England’s hopes by getting James Ryu out LBW. Matt Henry and Will O’Rourke also put England under pressure by giving early blows. New Zealand’s strategy was clear and they maintained constant pressure.

New Zealand’s innings

Before this, strong batting was also seen in the second innings of New Zealand. Henry Nicholls scored a century, although he could only add two runs at the start of the day and was out to Jofra Archer.

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Apart from this, Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips were also out cheaply, but in the end, Darryl Mitchell and Nathan Smith made a partnership and took the team’s lead to 445 runs, which set a very difficult target for England.