In the second Test match against Sri Lanka at Lord’s, Joe Root created cricket history by becoming the first player to reach 34 Test hundreds.
With a century on the third day of play, Root added to his first-inning tally of 143 to reach three figures for the second time in the match. After facing 111 balls and matching the previous England record of 33 hundreds held by the great Alastair Cook in the first innings, Root went one better than Cook when he cut Lahiru Kumara for his tenth four. Additionally, Root’s century was his fastest in Test history, coming off of just 111 balls.
In contrast to Cook’s 161-match career, this milestone was reached in Root’s 145th Test match, demonstrating his amazing skill and consistency.
Cook’s record was broken by Root, who also became the only person to own the most Test hundreds at the legendary stadium, Lord’s, after England greats Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan each had six hundreds at the “Home of Cricket.”
In addition, Root became the fourth player in history to hit hundreds in both innings of a Test match at Lord’s, following George Headley, Gooch, and Vaughan of the West Indies. Even though Gooch’s 456 runs in one Test match against India at Lord’s in 1990 is still the best score by a batsman, Root’s most recent century cemented his place among England’s all-time greats.
In addition, Root’s 34th Test century put him in joint sixth position among the all-time leaders of the Test century club, which is headed by Sachin Tendulkar of India, who currently holds the record with 51 hundreds in 200 Tests. Among these outstanding cricketers, Root is the only one still playing at age 33, which emphasises his continued value to the game.