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One of the finest English batters to grace the cricket field, Joe Root has been churning out runs in a consistent manner in the recent few years. Despite the team’s bad performance of the English team in the Ashes 2021/22 and West Indies 2022 series, he emerged as the top run-scorer for the team.
Ahead of the home series against New Zealand, Root had skipped down from the captaincy role and passed the baton to Ben Stokes. The result has been exemplary with the England team winning the first two Tests. Interestingly, the 31-year-old is the best batter of the England team yet again with 337 runs in six innings.
In the ongoing third and final Test of the series against the Kiwi team at Headingley, Root is batting at 55* off 80 balls and has stitched a strong partnership with Ollie Pope, who has also scored a fifty and is unbeaten on 81.
In the last ball of the 22nd over delivered by Neil Wagner, Root played an outrageous reverse scoop shot for a six over the third man area and completed the team’s hundred. This stroke completely stunned Wagner, who had a brief chat with Root. On the other hand, the slip fielder Daryl Mitchell was witnessed smiling and didn’t bother to have a look at the ball, as it looked like a six with a sweet connection with the willow.
It will be interesting to see, how the first session of Day 5 pens out for both the teams. The Kiwi team will require the wickets upfront to put pressure on the batting unit, while the home team would look to carry on the confidence of the knocks from Jonny Bairstow and Craig Overton and complete a series whitewash.