Lord's Test: Cook, Stokes put England in driver's seat

New Delhi, May 24 (ANI): Alastair Cook's consecutive hundred in Tests and Ben Stokes' ton helped England to forge a 295 runs lead over New Zealand on the fourth day of the Lord's Test. Starting the day at 74-2, England lost the wicket of Ian Bell on the third day of the ball when Tim Southee got him of a superb outswinger. In-form batsman Joe Root then had a brilliant partnership of 158 runs with the skipper, but missed out on a century for the second time in the match when he fell for 84. Having England three down and still 60 runs behind with Bell's dismissal, the situation changed significantly for the visitors as Cook and Root batted fluently during the afternoon. Root, though, was sucked in by a short-ball ploy and obligingly hooked Matt Henry to long leg 10 overs before the second new ball and moments before Cook's century. After his wicket, Ben Stokes joined Cook who brought up his century in 206 balls following his ton in Barbados. Ben Stokes and Cook were starting to build up a partnership before rain came in and umpires were forced to take an early tea. However, the interruption was unable to hinder the concentration of the pair as they both added 132 runs for the fifth wicket. Stokes scored the fastest hundred at Lord's before getting out on 101. At the end of fourth day, England were at 429-6 with an overall lead of 295 runs. Cook was unbeaten on 153, having Moeen Ali on 19 at the other end. (ANI)