London August 31 2024: Joe Root hit his second ton in the Lord’s Test to surpass Alastair Cook and become the England player with the most centuries in Test cricket.
With England building a mammoth lead in the second innings, Root walked in to stroke a run-a-ball century and knock off his 34th Test ton.
Earlier in the first innings, Sri Lanka made a good start with the ball at Lord’s after opting to bowl first, only for their plans to be thwarted by Joe Root, who notched up a record 33rd Test century.
Root, who has been in astounding form, walked in to bat at 42/2 and dominated the Lankan attack with Harry Brook and later Jamie Smith offering some company.
The England No.4 scored at a brisk rate and the only half-chance he offered was when an inside edge off Milan Rathnayake evaded the stumps and raced for a boundary.
Root smashed a second ton in the second innings as England dominated proceedings at Lord’s, building a huge lead.
With the two tons, Root now goes past Cook for the most Test centuries by an Englishman.
No contemporary Test batter has as many hundreds, and in the overall list, Root made a notable entry 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 |
Root, now 33, is almost level with the number of hundreds Sachin Tendulkar had before turning 34 (35 Test hundreds).
Root only recently scored his 12,000th Test run to become the seventh-highest run-scorer of all time and the 33-year-old has second-placed Ponting and Tendulkar’s overall record within sight.
Root now has fifty centuries in all international cricket, making him only the second current player after Virat Kohli to achieve this rare milestone.
The England star also went on to take his 200th catch in Test cricket later in Sri Lanka’s second innings.
