Joe Root shines and Ben Stokes gets reprieve as England reach strong position

Joe Root played a classy innings while Ben Stokes was handed a reprieve as England moved into a dominant position on day three, chasing 277, in the first LV= Insurance Test match against New Zealand at Lord’s.

England appeared to be headed towards yet another disappointing loss when Stokes hacked the ball onto his own stumps with the scoreboard briefly showing 76 for five, before he was called back for a no ball.

Stokes then made his way quickly to 54, while Root was authoritative at the crease, hitting an unbeaten 77 to leave the hosts needing another 61 to win.

Record chases at Lord's

Parkinson picks his moment

There have been plenty of tributes to the late, great Shane Warne at Lord’s – from the moment’s silence the team observed on day one, to the renaming of the Sky commentary box in his honour. It was, therefore, fitting for England’s debutant leg-spinner Matt Parkinson to take his first Test wicket on the 23rd anniversary of Warne’s ‘ball of the century’ to Mike Gatting. Warne was a big advocate of the next generation of slow bowlers and had tipped Parkinson for an England call before his shock death in March.

Top order troubles

On the eve of the match, Stokes made a point of showering Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope with superlatives. With the game up for the grabs on the third afternoon, both faltered in familiar fashion. Crawley’s uncertainty around off stump cost him once again as he was caught in the gully for nine, while Pope’s off stump was sent cartwheeling by Trent Boult. Scores of seven and 10 are hardly going to silence the questions about his surprise promotion to number three. With Alex Lees boasting a top score of 31 in four appearances at the highest level, things are too flimsy at the head of the