33 years old England National Cricket Team batsman Joe Root created history with his remarkable performance in the second Test of the ongoing three-match series against the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team at London’s iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground.
Joe Root’s form has soared in Test cricket over the last few years and he has carried that into the Sri Lankan Test series. In the opening match of the series, he scored 42 and 62* runs respectively, moving a step closer to Sachin Tendulkar’s iconic record of most Test runs.
Meanwhile, in the Lord’s Test, he decided to take his performance up a notch and smashed a terrific tone. He came on the ball when England were struggling and despite not getting much support from the opposition, he stood like a wall in the middle and made runs.
Joe Root single-handedly pushed Sri Lanka on the back foot with his performance, finishing with 84 off 50 balls. He wasn’t going to stop there as he got to 99* after much grinding and then played 12 dot balls before completing his 13th century and celebrating the milestone in style.
Patience is a virtue 🧘♂️
Every Joe Root dot ball at 99*…#EnglandCricket | @Root66 pic.twitter.com/vFtjccu66l
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 29, 2024
Root completed his century off 162 balls and at the time of writing the report he had scored 137* off 193 deliveries with 18 fours. His batting performance helped him create and break historic records and created his legacy as England’s greatest Test batsman, surpassing Alastair Cook.
Joe Root Creates History With Stunning Century Against Sri Lanka
Joe Root’s ton against Sri Lanka was his 33rd in Test cricket and he has now equaled Alastair Cook’s record for most Test tons by an Englishman in Test cricket history. He also broke Cook’s record for most Test runs on English soil and is almost level with Sachin Tendulkar’s hundreds before turning 34 (35 Test hundreds).
Most test centuries by an Englishman
33 – Alastair Cook
33 – Joe Root
23 – Kevin Pietersen
22 – Wally Hammond
Most tests are conducted in English:
Joe Root: 6569*
Alastair Cook: 6568
Among active cricketers, Joe Root has the second most centuries in international cricket and in Test cricket he sits at the top of the list. Also, fab-4 has the most tons in Tests among batters.
Most International Hundreds by Active Players:
Virat Kohli – 80
Joe Root – 49*
Rohit Sharma – 48
Kane Williamson – 45
Steve Smith – 44
Most hundreds in Tests (Active Players):
33 – Joe Root (264 runs)
32 – Steve Smith (195 hits)
32 – Kane Williamson (176 runs)
29 – Virat Kohli (191 innings)
19 – Cheteshwar Pujara (176 innings)
Test hundreds at most in Fab 4:
Root – 33* (144 matches)
Kane Williamson – 32 (100 matches)
Steve Smith – 32 (109 matches)
Virat Kohli Kohli – 29 (113 matches)
Made us wait for this but the moment Joe Root and all Lord’s have been waiting for 🤩💯 pic.twitter.com/6CnDVJ89tD
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 29, 2024
The 33-year-old achieved two more major records as he overtook Shivnarine Chanderpaul for the most 50+ scores in Tests and entered as the highest century-maker.
Most 50+ points in tests:
119 – Sachin Tendulkar
103 – Jacques Kallis
103 – Ricky Ponting
99 – Rahul Dravid
97- Root
96 – Shivnarin Chanderpaul
Hundreds of the most Tests | |
Player |
Hundreds |
Sachin Tendulkar | 51 |
Jacques Kallis | 45 |
Ricky Ponting | 41 |
Kumar Sangakkara | 38 |
Rahul Dravid | 36 |
Sunil Gavaskar | 34 |
Mahela Jayawardene | 34 |
Brian Lara | 34 |
Younis Khan | 34 |
Alastair Cook | 33 |
Joe Root | 33 |