First time in Test history: England claim MASSIVE record with victory against New Zealand
The England team registered a comfortable 8-wicket victory over New Zealand at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch to take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match Test series. With their ‘Bazball’ style of batting, the Three Lions also became the team to take the least overs in completing a run chase of over 100 runs in Test cricket history.
Set a target of 104 runs, England did lose Zak Crawley for just a run but knocks from Ben Duckett (27 in 18 balls), Jacob Bethell (50* in 37 balls) and Joe Root (23* in 15 balls) helped them complete the chase in just 12.4 overs. Also, the run rate of 8.21 is the highest ever by a team in a successful run chase of 100 runs or more.
The previous holders of the record were New Zealand themselves as they had chased down 109 against Bangladesh in 18.4 overs back in 2017 at the same venue.
England have now also won the first Test of five consecutive series. Their last defeat in a Test series opener was in the Ashes 2023 at Edgbaston.
The second Test will be played at the Cello Basin Reserve in Wellington from December 6 before the series moves to Hamilton for the final Test which is scheduled to commence from December 14.
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