Hang up the bunting, roll out the trestle tables and peel back the cellophane on the scotch eggs. England’s summer is up and running with a first Test victory since last August and, as Joe Root pulled Tim Southee for four to complete the job, the sense of relief up on the home team’s balcony was palpable.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum barely knew each other before being paired as captain and head coach but they will hope the embrace they shared is the first of many. Thanks to Root’s unbeaten 115 – an innings of sheer class and poise – the statistic of one win in 17 Tests that has brought them together can be parked.
Out in the middle, on completing a chase of 277 to defeat New Zealand by five wickets, Root looked emotional. The captaincy had clearly taken its toll, even if his form remained celestial, with the Yorkshireman later describing it as an “unhealthy relationship” by the end. As such, this will likely be an innings he remembers with particular fondness when eventually he hangs up his bat.
The same probably goes for the moment Root tucked Southee into the leg side for a couple of runs and saw his overnight 77 turned into his 26th Test century. With these two runs he also became only the second Englishman to 10,000 Test runs and doing so aged 31 and 157 days, the exact same age as Alastair Cook when he reached this milestone, was simply an extra fun fact to throw into an already heady mix.
Getting his side over the line without any wobbles through an unbroken stand of 120 with Ben Foakes – Paddington to Root’s Elizabeth and finishing 32 not out – will be the chief source of pride, however. The fourth morning had started out pregnant with possibilities – England needing 61 runs, New Zealand five wickets for their first win at Lord’s since 1999 – and there was moisture in the air after early rain showers. The floodlights were on and both sides knew an early strike would expose a long tail.
But for all these murky conditions and the apparent pressure on a side that had endured a winless winter, what followed was like a gentle Sunday morning stroll in nearby Regent’s Park. The old ball did not swing for New Zealand and once Root and Foakes got off to a breezy, wing‑heeled start, the tourists soon realised that their own fightback from 45 for seven on the opening day would likely be in vain.
It would be a stretch to claim this is a corner turned for England, however, given the identities of the architects. Matt Potts enjoyed a promising seven-wicket debut admittedly but this was a victory built on the genius of Root, the enduring skills of Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson, plus a momentum-shifting half-century from Stokes in the chase that was blessed with the good fortune of being bowled off a no-ball in its infancy.
A hardier perennial such as the top three will take longer to fix – it was notable to see McCullum flanked by Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope on the final morning for some encouraging words – but at least there has been a significant uptick in their fielding by way of attitude and execution. Pope’s direct hit run-out of Colin de Grandhomme during the game-changing team hat-trick whipped up by Broad on day three was a wicket earned through England’s sharpened focus in this department.
In many ways England simply had to get over the line here, not just to see the Stokes-McCullum axis start in positive fashion but in the knowledge that New Zealand, the reigning world champions, are far better than their rusty opening day with the bat. After another stumble at the start of their second innings Kane Williamson’s side clawed their way back through Daryl Mitchell’s superb 108 and an equally redoubtable the 96 from Tom Blundell.
Kyle Jamieson, who finished with six wickets in the match, promises to be an ongoing threat in this series through his extra bounce and abundant skill.
The 195-run stand by Mitchell and Blundell was a case of the support cast stepping up for the tourists, something England need to materialise among their own group if true progress is to be claimed. That said, the performance of Foakes with the gloves and then the bat made for a satisfying home debut. This was also a first Test victory for Surrey’s matinee idol since his debut series in Sri Lanka in 2018, while Potts and Matt Parkinson – rewarded for a race down the motorway on day one – are off the mark.
But chiefly this was Root’s day, guiding and gliding his way to his first century in the fourth innings of a Test, unfurling a succession of boundaries at the end and delighting the crowd beyond these final blows, with the run chase wrapped up in fewer than 15 overs on the fourth morning. According to the message which flashed up on the big screen, a full refund on their tickets will be issued.
It was also an instant return on the instructions from Stokes that Root must take his mind fully away from the strains of tactics and man-management of the previous five years and focus solely on continuing his extraordinary run of form. Stokes, against whom the results now go, was also first to greet Root as he entered the Long Room, their friendship as strong as ever even if the baton of captaincy has now been passed.
