Joe Root celebrated a timely return to form w✅ith a double century in Hamilton on Monday as England forged a 101-run lead over New Zealand on the fourth day of the second Test.
The England captain reached the milestone with a risky single with batting partner Ollie Pope sl💟ow off the mark👍 and only keeping his wicket when the throw at the stumps went wide.
A sheepish Root apologized to Pope for nearly burning ꦑhim before taking his helmet off and 💖raising his bat to the crowd.
By reaching his double ton, Root became the first visiting captain to✃ ever score a 200 in New Zealand.
Joe Root now becomes the first visit𒊎ing Test captain tꦗo score a double century in New Zealand.
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman)
In the Hamilton Test, Root came out to bat after England found themselves in a tricky position, having lost two wickets within the first ten overs. Root, alongside Rory Burns (101), stabilized the visitors’ innings before putting them in a commanding position.
Ollie Pope (75) forged another important partnership with Root, steering England to lead in the first innin🗹gs. Root was eventually dismis🥃sed on 226 by Mitchell Santner.
Joe Root doubters right now
— England's Barmy Army 🏴🎺 (@TheBarmyArmy)
Root surpassed the West Indies opener Chris Gayleꦫ (197) to register the highest score by a visiting captain in New Zealand. He is now the fourth England captain to score a double hundred in an overseas Test. Len Hutton (205, in Kingston 1954), Ted Dexter (205, in Karachi 1962) and Alastair Cook (263, in Abu Dhabi 2015) have scored double-tons for England as captains.
Among the English batsmen, Graham Thorpe was the last batsman to score a double century in New Zealand. He remained unbeaten on 200 in Christc꧅hur𝔉ch in 2002.
Overall, it was the🍌 first double-century in New Zealand by an overseas player since Shakib Al Hasan slammed 217 in Welling♚ton in January 2017.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
No Englishman in Test history has 🐻as many runs *and* a higher✨ average than Joe Root.
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst)
//twitter.c🍌om/Denni🔜sCricket_/status/1201340724500811776
YEEEEESSS !! 2️⃣0️⃣0️⃣
Scorecard:
— England Cricket (@englandcricket)
Joe Root's double ton propels England to take the first-innings lead over New Zealand
— betvisa68.com (@CricketTimesHQ)
//twitter.com/TanujKumarSin17/status/120135488🐈9093402624
Highest test score by a captain against New Zea𝓀land:
Joe Root – 226.
Sachin Tendulkar – 217.
Virat Kohli – 211.
Allan Border – 205.
Hanif Mohammed – 203*.
Chris Gayle – 197.— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra)
Joe Root has his thir🎃d Test double hundred! What an innings by the England captain! VS NZ
— Muhammad Noman (@Nomancricket29)
Joe Root took the ICC rankings seriously🌃 and played a extremely gorgeous innings 👏
— Santosh Chaurasia (@ChaurasiaVi23)
💥 Third double ton in Tests for Joe Root 💥
Loo🐓ks like the England ca൩ptain has got his rhythm back!
— ICC (@ICC)
Sleeping through a test like this is always extremely frustrating but take a bow Joe Root! Silencing a few critics in the process too… 👀
— Claire Cottingham (@Cla_Cottingham)
