Following Root’s tonne, England set up West Indies 385 to win

Joe Root hit a century in the post-lunch session, and with four full sessions remaining, England had set West Indies a target of 385 runs to win the Trent Bridge Test. When the session started, Root was batting on 81. He struck up a magnificent century to score 122 as England was knocked out for 425, extending their advantage to 384.

After the session started, Joe Root didn’t waste any time getting into the nineties as he cut Kevin Sinclair for a boundary through the covers.

The former England captain had to lead his country to a significant victory after West Indies mounted a valiant comeback with three strikes before the end of the morning session.

The West Indies managed to grab the second new ball directly their strategy worked, as Chris Woakes edged Shamar Joseph behind to the slip cordon, as they attempted to finish off the lower order. Root opened up against Joseph with two boundaries and finished his tonne in the next over. Gus Atkinson quickly got to 16, so there was a chance that England could easily take their lead over 400.

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But once more, as in the first session, the visitors struck quickly one after the other. Consequently, 419/7 quickly turned into 425 all out. Before Jayden Seales sent Mark Wood and Shoaib Bashir packing, Root hit a straight shot to covers. The home team would still feel sure that they had plenty on the board because no team has ever chased over 300 in the fourth innings of a Test match at this location.