ROOT DEFENDS HOSTS’ APPROACH IN 1ST TEST, SAYS CHASING WASN’T ‘REALISTIC’

England skipper Joe Root feels there wasn’t a “realistic” opportunity for the hosts to win the first Test against New Zealand.England needed 273 runs to win the game in the final two sessions after New Zealand declared their innings at 169/6. Root and Dominic Sibley helped England walk away with a draw at the Lord’s Cricket Ground on Sunday. Root defended England’s approach and said it was hard to score over three runs per over on an “absolute best” wicket.“Having played on that wicket for a few days, we knew it wasn’t going to be as straightforward as it looked,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Root as saying.“If you look at the run rate throughout the game, it was hard to score above three an over even when the pitch was at its absolute best.“We wanted to lay ourselves a foundation but, once we got through the initial phase, it just didn’t feel like there was a realistic opportunity for us to win the game,” he added.Root said England wanted to be a bit more disciplined in their batting having been bundled out for 275 in the first innings.“So, it was about using it as an opportunity to be a bit more disciplined as a batting group. At times in the first innings we showed a little bit of ill discipline. This was a chance to put that right and take a bit of confidence going into the rest of the series,” said Root.England and New Zealand will next lock horns in the second Test from Thursday and Root feels the hosts have a very good chance to win the series.“The last two times we’ve played in New Zealand we’ve been hammered in the first game and pretty much out the series,” he said.“But going to Edgbaston, this series is very much alive. We’ve got a chance to win it and we can take confidence from some very good individual performances in this game,” Root added.