WATCH: Neil Wagner dupes Joe Root with identical delivery; first goes for boundary, second gets the wicket in ENG vs NZ 1st Test

In the two-match Test series, England and New Zealand faced off. The opening game of the series is held at Mount Maunganui’s Bay Oval, which kicked off on February 16. From February 24 to February 28, Wellington’s Basin Reserve will host the second and final game of the series.

Kiwis captain Tim Southee chose to bowl first after winning the toss in the first Test. When the Three Lions were batting first and had a score of 18, their opener Zak Crawly was gone in just the third over of the innings. The 25-year-old could only manage to score four runs.

Former England skipper Joe Root hit Neil Wagner on the third ball of the 24th over in such a way that everyone was surprised. Wagner bowled the yorker length on which Root turned round and showing the face of the bat, hit him behind and hit a brilliant sweep. On the second ball of the 27th over on the same bowler but this time around he got dismissed after scoring just 14 runs.

Watch it here:

Look at Joe Root, he did hit a four off this shot earlier but it's Test cricket and they had fielders there 🤦‍♂️ #NZvENGpic.twitter.com/9IXyUs5md6

— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) February 16, 2023

New Zealand in trouble after end of Day 1

The English team declared their innings at a score of 325 runs with a loss of nine wickets. Star England batter Harry Brook scored 89 runs in 81 balls at a strike rate of above 109 which includes 15 boundaries and a six. Pope contributed 42 runs to the side which included six fours and England skipper Ben Stokes scored 19 runs which included three boundaries

For Blackcaps, the pick of the bowlers was Wagner with four wickets. Skipper Southee and Scott Kuggeleijn grabbed two wickets each. One wicket was snapped by right-arm speedster Blair Tickner.

While at the end of the day, New Zealand played 18 overs and in these overs they lost the three important wickets of Tom Latham, Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls. They were able to score only 37 runs. For the England side, James Anderson picked two wickets and Ollie Robinson picked one wicket.