Root leads England past New Zealand in 1st test at Lord’s

LONDON (AP) — Former captain Joe Root has given his successor Ben Stokes the perfect start to his reign at Lord’s. Root carried England to victory with a match-winning century Sunday to seal the first test against New Zealand. Root walked away as skipper in April after five years and a record 64 games in charge but remains the team’s most reliable performer and scored 115 not out to set up a five-wicket victory. In a decisive partnership with Ben Foakes, who made an unbeaten 32 in a stand of 120, Root shepherded England to a stiff chase of 277 with his first fourth-innings hundred. Root became the second Englishman to reach 10,000 test runs after his own predecessor as captain, Alastair Cook.