Joe Root scored his second century of the Lord’s Test, taking him past Alastair Cook as the leading centurion among England players. The latest from Root – the 34th of his career in Test cricket – came off just a run-a-ball as England furthered their commanding lead in the second innings.
At Lord’s, Sri Lanka, after opting to bowl first, made a superb start in the initial innings of the match. However, that was before Root replied with his 33rd Test century, a record.
Coming in at 42/2, the form of Root was exceptional at the moment took guard right at the beginning of the innings. He was fully dominant alongside Harry Brook and later Jamie Smith against the Sri Lankan bowling.
This means that, with his two hundreds in this game, Joe Root has passed Alastair Cook as the most prolific English test hundred scorer, while no current Test batter holds as many centuries. Root has now climbed onto the overall list as the joint-ninth highest century-maker.
Most Test Hundreds
| 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 |
| Joe Root | 34 |
| Alastair Cook | 33 |
Will Joe Root Break Sachin Tendulkar’s Record?
The 33-year-old is in the race to equal Sachin Tendulkar’s total of 51 Test centuries. Last week Root reached his 12,000 Test runs, making him the seventh highest run-scorer in history, with Ricky Ponting and Tendulkar’s records in his sights.
1️⃣ Sachin Tendulkar – 15921 runs
⬆️ Joe Root – 12377 runsHalf an eye on Sachin’s record, Joe? 👀
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 31, 2024
When asked about whether he has an eye on Sachin Tendulkar’s record. Root made it clear that currently he wants to play and do well for his team.
“I want to play, do my bit more for the team and score as many runs as I can and see where we get to. There’s no better feeling, it’s Obviously amazing, you score 100 and you’d be lying if you say it isn’t a big part of why you start playing the game and what you love about it.”
He has also accumulated fifty centuries across all formats of international cricket and became only the second current active player, besides Virat Kohli, to achieve this title for such a rare record. Further, he recorded his 200th Test catch during Sri Lanka’s second innings in another landmark set by Root.
