Joe Root hits a four to surpass Alastair Cook as England’s leading run-getter in PAK vs ENG 2024 1st Test
England ace batter Joe Root surpasses Alistair Cook to become England's leading run-getter in Tests with a boundary. The 33-year-old achieved this feat on Day 3 (today, October 9) of the ongoing first Test between Pakistan and England.
Heading into the game, Root was only 71 runs short of eclipsing Cook's record. He walked out to bat when skipper Ollie Pope was dismissed for a duck. The batter saw through the early turbulent moment and stayed with Zak Crawley, stitching together a 109-run partnership.
Root was batting alongside Ben Duckett and on the last ball of the 42nd over, Root hit a sublime on-drive for a boundary to surpass Cook's record. That boundary took Root's run tally to 12,473 runs compared to 12,472 scored by Alistair Cook in Test cricket.
Root also became the fifth-highest run-getter with that record. He sits second on that esteemed list behind Rahul Dravid (13,288 runs)
Pakistan continue to grind on Day 3 of PAK vs ENG 1st Test
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Pakistan piled up 556 runs on board thanks to centuries from Abdullah Shafique (102 off 184), Shan Masood (151 off 177) and Agha Salman (104 off 119). Jack Leach picked up three wickets while Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse shared two each as England's bowling lasted for 149 overs.
England batted out the last 20 overs of Day 2 and scored 96/1 losing Ollie Pope cheaply but Joe Root and Crawley saw through the end of the day and a good chunk of the first session on Day 3.
Duckett was dismissed in the second session of the day as Harry Brook walked out to the middle to partner Root. Currently, Root is only a run shy of his hundred and Brook a big hit away from another Test fifty.