Joe Root becomes the second England batter to score 10000 Test runs
Former England captain Joe Root redeemed himself for his first innings failure against New Zealand at Lord's by scoring an unbeaten hundred in the second essay on Sunday. In the process, the classy right-handed batter became only the second English batter after Alastair Cook to score 10000 Test runs.
Root reached the elusive milestone in the 77th over of the fourth day of the first Test when he worked Tim Southeeโs delivery to mid-wicket for two runs. The Yorkshire batter got to three figures on his 157th ball and raised his bat as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
By the end of that over, the hosts only required 13 wins to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ ๐ฆ ๐
We are witnessing greatness.
Enjoy every moment of it.
Congrats, @Root66 ๐ ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ ๐ฆ ๐ https://t.co/nXGuJVf5To
The 31-year old also hit the winning runs in the form of a boundary to kickstart England's home summer with a five-wicket win.
Along with his successor, Ben Stokes, the right-hander rescued England from a precarious 69/4 by adding 90 runs to put them in pole position.
Root started day four at 77 and shared an unbeaten partnership of 120 runs with Ben Foakes to score the remaining 61 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
The Yorkshire batter finished unbeaten at 115, including 12 boundaries. His 15 centuries in England is a record he shares with Graham Gooch, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, and Cook.
Joe Root is also the fourth-fastest player to score 10000 Test runs
Meanwhile, the Englishman has also become the fourth-fastest batter in Test cricket to score 10000 runs in terms of matches, doing so in 118 games.
Former greats Brian Lara, Kumar Sangakkara, and Younis Khan are ahead on the chart, achieving it in fewer Tests. Ricky Ponting also achieved the landmark in 118 matches.
It's been a while. That winning feeling ๐
Scorecard/Videos: ecb.co.uk/matches/33682#โฆ
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Notably, Joe Root has left behind the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Mahela Jayawardene, Jacques Kallis, Allan Border, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Steve Waugh, and Cook.
Root is also the first batter in Test history to complete 10,000 runs in less than 10 years.