LONDON — After two days of being oppressed by New Zealand, England broke the stranglehold in impressive style to take charge halfway through the first Test at Lord's Saturday. First, New Zealand was dismissed for 207 to give England a first-innings lead of 25, a significant amount on a tricky, soft pitch. That lead was then boosted from 25 to 205, as Joe Root and Jonathan Trott found runs easy to harvest to help give England 180-6 at stumps. New Zealand fought back with four wickets in six overs in the last hour, three of them to the tireless Tim Southee, but that joy was offset by injuries to wicketkeeper BJ Watling, who hurt his left knee, and spinner Bruce Martin, who limped off after his 13th over. Neither finished the tea session. Root, bowled for 71, one shy of his test best on debut in December, and Trott combined for a stand of 123, easily the biggest of the match. They scored at pace to give themselves at least the last four sessions to bowl at New Zealand. Especially after New Zealand's first bat lasted less than three sessions. Root and Trott came together when New Zealand thought they regained the advantage by removing both openers with the total on 36. Captain Alastair Cook was undone on 21 by leftie seamer Trent Boult. Fellow opener Nick Compton, on 15, was set up well by Neil Wagner, who beat him between bat and pad to knock over his off stump. However, Root and Trott, who has two centuries at Lord's, comfortably handled the New Zealand attack. Root's sixth boundary of eight brought up his second test 50 off 78 balls. His middle stump was clattered by Southee after 120 balls. Southee then bowled Jonny Bairstow for 5, and ousted Matt Prior, who squirted the ball to sub Martin Guptill at square leg. Southee had three wickets in 16 balls and Prior a pair of ducks in the same week he was named England player of the year. Part-time offspinner Williamson took out Trott for 56, after reaching his 15th 50. At the crease were Steven Finn on 6, and Ian Bell was yet to score. — AP Scorecard England (1st Innings) 232 New Zealand (1st Innings) P. Fulton c Swann b Anderson 02 H. Rutherford c Cook b Anderson 04 K. Williamson c Prior b Anderson 60 R. Taylor lbw b Anderson 66 D. Brownlie lbw b Finn 23 B. McCullum c Prior b Broad 02 BJ Watling c Prior b Finn 17 T. Southee c Root b Finn 12 B. Martin b Anderson 00 N. Wagner not out 06 T. Boult c Anderson b Finn 00 Extras (b4, lb8, nb3) 15 Total (all out, 69 overs) 207 Falls: 1-5 (Rutherford), 2-7 (Fulton), 3-100 (Taylor), 4-147 (Brownlie), 5-155 (McCullum), 6-177 (Williamson), 7-194 (Southee), 8-195 (Martin), 9-207 (Watling), 10-207 (Boult). Bowling: Anderson 24-11-47-5; Broad 21-4-64-1 (2nb); Finn 15-3-63-4 (1nb); Swann 8-0-19-0; Trott 1-0-2-0. England (2nd Innings) A. Cook c Brownlie b Boult 21 N. Compton b Wagner 15 J. Trott b Williamson 56 J. Root b Southee 71 J. Bairstow b Southee 05 M. Prior c sub (Guptill) b Southee 00 S. Finn not out 06 I. Bell not out 00 Extras (b3, w1, nb2) 06 Total (6 wkts, 59 overs) 180 Falls: 1-36 (Cook), 2-36 (Compton), 3-159 (Root), 4-167 (Bairstow), 5-171 (Prior), 6-171 (Trott). To bat: S. Broad, G. Swann, J. Anderson. Bowling: Boult 12-3-42-1; Southee 14-3-34-3; Wagner 13-2-44-1 (1nb, 1w); Martin 13-2-40-0 (1nb); Williamson 7-1-17-1.
