England won the first Test match against New Zealand by five wickets owing to a brilliant hundred by Joe Root. The Lords Test match that was more of a roller-coaster ride came to a pleasing end for the home team on Day 4 as they gained a lead in the series by 1-0.
Opting to bat first, New Zealand were bundled out for 132 runs as James Anderson and Matty Potts ripped apart the Kiwi’s batting outfit. However, England’s supremacy in the game was soon nullified by Tim Southee and co. as England posted 141 in reply.
The start of the third innings was once again dominated by James Anderson and Matty Potts with New Zealand struggling at 56/4. The predictor showed an easy target for England in the final innings until Daryl Mitchell partnered with Tom Blundell to score a century while the latter added 96. England were quick to clean the tail but New Zealand seemed to have posted a good enough target of 277 to fight for in the last innings of a low-scoring Test match.
As per the custom of the match, the bowlers dominated early on as England were 69/4 before new captain Ben Stokes steadied the ship with a half-century. With the dawn of Day 4, England were 216 for 5 with Joe Root batting at 77. Leaving no hopes for New Zealand, Joe Root sealed the deal in the very first session as he scored an unbeaten 115 to help England reach 279.
Former captain Joe Root became only the second English batter to cross 10,000 Test runs in the process.
This was the first-ever assignment for England under new captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum and only second victory in the current cycle of the World Test Championship. Despite a thrilling victory, England are reeling at the bottom of the points table of the World Test Championship.
Similarly, the current world champions New Zealand also hold no bright hopes of making it to the top.
Pakistan are currently perched at the 5th spot as they are seeing a break after losing to Australia in the home series.
Here’s the updated World Test Championship points table: (6 June 2022)
| Team | Matches | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points | Percentage of Points | Series | Penalty |
| Australia | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 72 | 75.00 | 2 | 0 |
| South Africa | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 60 | 71.43 | 3 | 0 |
| India | 12 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 77 | 58.33 | 4* | -3 |
| Sri Lanka | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 40 | 55.56 | 3 | 0 |
| Pakistan | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 44 | 52.38 | 3 | 0 |
| West Indies | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 30 | 35.71 | 3 | -2 |
| New Zealand | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 28 | 33.33 | 4 | 0 |
| England | 14 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 30 | 19.23 | 4 | -10 |
| Bangladesh | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 16 | 16.67 | 4 | 0 |
