England vs New Zealand 3rd Test, Day 4: Ollie Pope, Joe Root Take England Close To Series Sweep

Jack Leach took 10 wickets in a Test for the first time in his career before Ollie Pope and Joe Root set about leading England's charge to a series whitewash of New Zealand at Headingley on Sunday. England were 183-2 at stumps on the fourth day of the third and final Test, needing just a further 113 runs to reach a target of 296 on Monday's last day. Pope was 81 not out and Root, on his Yorkshire home ground, 55 not out, with the third-wicket pair having shared an unbroken stand of 132.

England will be firm favourites to wrap up a 3-0 series success over Test world champions New Zealand after chasing down stiff targets of 277 and 299 in five-wicket wins at Lord's and Trent Bridge respectively.

Former captain Root came in with England 51-2 following the needless run out of Alex Lees and the latest tame exit of Zak Crawley, who chipped a catch to cover.

Root, even while presiding over a run of just one win from 17 Tests prior to this series that prompted his resignation as captain, kept making runs -- in 2021 he scored 1,708 in Tests at a superb average of 61.

Such was New Zealand's desperation to dismiss Root they wasted two of their three reviews this innings off successive Tim Southee deliveries in near-identical attempts to get clearly correct not out lbw decisions overturned when the star batsman was on one.

Root delighted his loyal fans with an outrageous reverse-ramp six off Neil Wagner, with the left-arm quick hit for three fours in consecutive deliveries by the increasingly assertive Pope.

And with Headingley bathed in sunshine, the last over of the day saw Root complete a 78-ball fifty with a legside boundary off Bracewell.

Selected for just his second Test ahead of Ajaz Patel, a frontline spinner, Bracewell had