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Root equals England record of 33 test centuries, goes joint 10th in all-time list

football29 August 2024 17:20| © AFP
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Joe Root © Getty Images

Joe Root equalled the England record of 33 test centuries held by Alastair Cook when he reached three figures on the first day of the second test against Sri Lanka at Lord's on Thursday.

Root, 81 not out at tea, spent 12 balls on 99 and one of the outstanding batsmen of his generation almost played onto Lahiru Kumara when one run shy of a century.

But Root, opening the face, elegantly guided the paceman for four between slip and gully to complete a hundred with his 13th four in 162 balls faced.

He was eventually out for 143, his sixth test century at Lord's, when he miscued a reverse scoop off fast bowler Milan Rathnayake high to Pathum Nissanka at point, with England then 308-7.

By then, Root had drawn level with fellow former England captain Cook's record of 33 test centuries, but in his 145th match compared to the retired opener's career tally of 161 tests.

It also took the 33-year-old Root into joint-tenth place in an all-time list of test century-makers headed by India great Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 51 hundreds in 200 tests from 1989-2013.

Significantly, the 33-year-old Root is the only batsman in this group who is still an active cricketer, with all the others retired from test duty.

MOST TEST HUNDRES (number of hundreds, matches, player, team (s), span):

51 200 Sachin Tendulkar     IND      1989-2013

45 166 Jacques Kallis       RSA      1995-2013

41 168 Ricky Ponting        AUS      1995-2012

38 134 Kumar Sangakkara     SRI      2000-2015

36 164 Rahul Dravid         IND/ICC  1996-2012

34 118 Younis Khan          PAK      2000-2017

34 125 Sunil Gavaskar       IND      1971-1987

34 131 Brian Lara           WIS/ICC  1990-2006

34 149 Mahela Jayawardene   SRI      1997-2014

33 145 Joe Root             ENG      2012 -

33 161 Alastair Cook        ENG      2006-2018

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