Pope-Root stand makes England favourites for 3-0 sweep

An excellent partnership between Ollie Pope and Joe Root in the final session on Day 4 has put England on course to chase down 296 against New Zealand to clinch the series 3-0. For the third day in running, England finished the day in control of proceedings and barring a dramatic twist on the final day, the hosts will fancy their chances of getting the job done.

New Zealand wouldn't have seen this assault from Pope and Root coming their way after they managed to remove the openers inside 13 overs. Alex Lees was first run out very early in the chase whereas Zak Crawley attempted one shot too many to fall in a tame fashion. At that stage, England needed 241 runs to cleansweep the series. By Stumps, that came down to just 113 as Pope and Root added 132 off just 163 deliveries and are looking good for more on the final day.

In their desperate attempt to send Root packing, New Zealand wasted two reviews off back-to-back deliveries early into the former captain's innings. Pope at the other end grew in confidence as he fetched three boundaries off Michael Bracewell in a single over. Root entertained the crowd by bringing out the reverse sweep against the spinner and then later on, in thrilling fashion, he also reverse swept Neil Wagner for a six much to the crowd's delight.

That forced New Zealand to go back to Trent Boult and Tim Southee but the changes hardly mattered with the runs continuing to flow. Pope got to his fifty with a thick outside edge and Root was handed a reprieve with Daryl Mitchell failing to make use of an opportunity. The final few overs completely belonged to the hosts and pretty much sucked the life out of the fielding unit. Pope hit hat-trick of boundaries to bring up the century stand while Root took on Bracewell to bring up his 54th Test fifty.

Earlier in the day, the