ENG vs NZ: Joe Root's 3 best knocks

Getting Joe Root back to the Lord's pavilion early will be on top of New Zealand's mind when they face-off against England in a two-match Test series starting June 2.

The Yorkshire batsman has been pivotal to England's red-ball fortunes and will be looking to notch up a string of big scores before they take on India in a grueling five-match Test series.

Root has 895 runs from 11 matches against New Zealand at an average of 44.75. In total, the England skipper has 8617 runs in Test cricket at an average of 49.25.

Ahead of the series against NZ, we take a look at some of his best knocks against the opposition.

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#1 2019: Joe Root's 226 at Seddon Park

Joe Root's 226 at Seddon Park and New Zealand's hard-fought second innings were the highlights of the drawn affair.

The match was an absolute runfest with the hosts notching up 375 in the first innings, only for England to go one step ahead and compile 476 on a batting paradise. Root had 226 of them and the knock was studded with 22 fours and a six.

The second innings saw a fightback from the Kiwis with Kane Williamson (104*) and Ross Taylor (105*) making sure the match was drawn.

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#2 2013: Joe Root's sedate 104 at Headlingley

Joe Root's century was instrumental in helping England notch up a fighting total as the side made 354 batting first.

Their exceptional bowling saw NZ being skittled out for 174. The second innings score of 247 was enough for the hosts to set a daunting target of 468.

In reply, NZ could only muster 220 and England won by 247 runs.

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#3 98 at Lord's as England win by 124 runs

England's 124-run win was orchestrated by Root's brilliance in the first innings and Stuart Broad's skill with the ball in the second.

Batting first, England made 389, but couldn't stop the NZ juggernaut as they stacked up 523.

Alastair Cook (162) and Ben Stokes (101) led the fightback to set the Kiwis a target of 345, and then dismissed them for 220 again to win by a large margin.

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Squads for the Eng vs NZ Tests

New Zealand: Kane Williamson, Henry Nicholls, Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Rachin Ravindra, Will Young, Jacob Duffy, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Tom Blundell, Devon Conway, Tom Latham, BJ Watling, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Ajaz Patel, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner.

England: Joe Root, James Anderson, James Bracey, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Dom Sibley, Olly Stone, Mark Wood.