NOTTINGHAM, June 12: Joe Root and Ollie Pope made centuries Sunday to help England move to 473/5 and within sight of New Zealand’s vast first-innings total of 553 on Day 3 of a second Test that has turned into a batter’s paradise at Trent Bridge.
Root, currently the world’s most in-form batter in Test cricket, was still batting at stumps on 163 not out to give England hope of coming out of the first innings with an unlikely lead.
Root is more used to compiling centuries and he got his fourth in his last five Test matches with an inside edge for four just before tea. It was his quickest century of his career so far — in just 116 balls — and surely one of his best, given the sublime stroke-play he produced at Trent Bridge.
Root, who was dropped on 35 by Tim Southee at second slip just before lunch, has repeatedly dipped into his playbook of cover drives on the way to his fourth Test century at Trent Bridge.
The ground is again proving a runscorer’s paradise on a balmy day in Nottingham, central England.
Meanwhile, Pope reached three figures for just the second time in four years in the England team and the first at home.
Pope’s 145 beat his previous best score, the 135 not out against South Africa in January 2020, and justified the decision of England’s new leadership to promote him to No. 3 for this international summer.
Alex Lees (67) and Ben Stokes (46) chipped in with significant knocks and Ben Foakes was with Root on 24 not out at the close, with England trailing by 80.
England leads the three-match series 1-0 after a five-wicket win in the first Test at Lord’s last week. (AP)
