England batter Joe Root smashed his 29th Test century during the ongoing second Test against New Zealand at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.
He came in to bat on the opening day of the match after the dismissal of Ollie Pope and remained unbeaten till the England skipper Ben Stokes declared their first innings.
Root finished unbroken on 153 after facing 224 balls and helped his side post a mammoth total of 435-8 D on the scoreboard. His innings was laced with 10 classy fours and 3 gigantic sixes.
The commentators on air were shocked to see Root playing outrageous shots against the Blackcaps’ pace-battery.
Interestingly, one of the commentators mentioned that Root hasn’t played any sweep shots in this Test before the Yorkshire-born cricketer decided to play one.
“No reverse sweeps today,” the commentator said before Root hit Niel Wagner over the slip cordon for a boundary.
Here’s the video:
"No reverse sweeps today"
Think again 🤣
Joe Root proving he can play every shot in the book 📕#NZvENG pic.twitter.com/c5rjwR1QC7
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) February 24, 2023
At the start of Day 2, Root hopped in his crease and turned around, ramping Tim Southee for a six behind the wickets.
Relive the moment here:
"When it works like that there's absolutely nothing wrong with it"
Joe Root doing Joe Root things 🔥
302 run partnership 👀#NZvENG pic.twitter.com/RjGAzx5IGL
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) February 24, 2023
After the declaration, England returned to get a break through in the very first over as James Anderson got Devon Conway nicking to the keeper. The nick was faint and the umpire was unmoved but the English wicket-keeper Ben Foakes and his teammates were confident of hearing a noise and straightaway went for a review. They were vindicated as there was a clear spike on UltraEdge when the ball had passed the bat. The umpire was asked to reverse his decision and Conway walked back to the pavilion for a third-ball duck.
Brief Scores: England 435-8 d. (Harry Brook 186, Joe Root 153 not out; Matt Henry 4/100, Michael Bracwell 2/54) lead New Zealand 1/1 (James Anderson 1/1) by 434 runs.
