Joe Root, on brink of century, leads England fightback: 3rd Test, Day 1 (Lords)

Veteran Joe Root's defiant unbeaten 99 guided England out of trouble on a grinding first day of the third Test against India at Lord's.

England were in the dumps first when allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy removed openers Duckett and Crawley in the same over to leave the hosts 44-2. Then when Ollie Pope and Harry Brook fell after tea at 172-4.

The fightback began with a stand of 109 between Joe Root (99 not out) and Ollie Pope (44), who batted throughout the afternoon sessions. This continued when Root combined with an unbroken 79 stand with Stokes (39 not out) for the 5th wicket.

England 251-4: Root 99*, Pope 44, Stokes 39*; Reddy 2-46 vs India. England won the toss.

July 2025.