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

LONDON (AP) — Former skipper Joe Root has given his successor Ben Stokes the perfect start to his captaincy of the England team at Lord’s. Root carried England to victory with a century to seal the first test against New Zealand. Root stepped down as skipper in April after five years 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 chase of 277 with his first fourth-innings hundred. Root became the second Englishman to reach 10,000 career test runs after his own predecessor as captain, Alastair Cook.