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Sports

Felt a double ton was round the corner: Root

Hamilton, Dec 2

Skipper Joe Root said he had a feeling that a double ton was round the corner as his knock helped England have a slight edge over New Zealand in the second and final Test being played at the Seddon Park on Monday.

"I have felt close for a long time, it has been round the corner," Root told Sky Sports Cricket at stumps at Seddon Park, after New Zealand closed on 96/2 in their second innings to trail England by five runs.

"I had the bit between my teeth when I got going and wanted to make it a real big one and give us an opportunity to win this game.

"I felt pretty good all the way through it. I managed to find a good tempo, was busy, got my feet going, felt like my normal self.

"Even though I didn't score as freely as I normally would, I felt I was playing in the same sort of manner and let the pitch and situation dictate the rest."

Root reached the 200-run milestone with a risky single with Pope slow off the mark and only keeping his wicket when the New Zealand throw at the stumps went wide. The England skipper apologised to Pope for nearly burning him before taking his helmet off and raising his bat to the crowd.

"I thought it might do a little bit more in terms of up and down but it hasn't seemed to - but we have a couple of wickets and you never know in the morning," said Root when asked about England's chances of forcing a win.

"The frustrating thing is the forecast isn't great, hence why we sped things up at the back-end of our innings. We have given ourselves a chance and if we get a cluster of wickets you never know.

"(Williamson and Taylor) are two very experienced players that you expect a bit of a rear guard from - they know how to play in those situations and on good surfaces you expect a fightback from the No 2 side in the world.

"If we can make an early breakthrough it could get us on a bit of a wicket train because they're such key figures in their batting line-up. It would give our guys a lot of confidence."