Joe Root hit his 33rd Test century, matching England legend Alastair Cook’s record for the number of hundreds.
England v Sri Lanka, 2nd Test, Scorecard
Sri Lanka started well with the ball at Lord’s after choosing to bowl first. However, their plans were stopped by Joe Root, who scored his 33rd Test century, setting a new record.
Root, who has been in great form, came in to bat when the score was 42/2. He played strongly against the Sri Lankan bowlers, with help from Harry Brook and later Jamie Smith.
England’s No.4, Joe Root, scored quickly, and the only small chance he gave was when an inside edge off Milan Rathnayake just missed the stumps and went for a boundary.
With this century, Root is now tied with Alastair Cook for the most Test centuries by an English player.
No current Test batter has more hundreds, and Root has now entered the top ten list of players with the most centuries in Test cricket.
| 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 |
Joe Root, now 33 years old, is close to matching the number of centuries Sachin Tendulkar had before he turned 34 (35 Test centuries).
Root recently reached 12,000 Test runs, becoming the seventh-highest run-scorer of all time. At 33, he is also within reach of Ricky Ponting’s second-place spot and Tendulkar’s overall record.
