Joe Root equaled Alastair Cook’s England record of 33 Test centuries during the first day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s on Thursday. Root, who was 81 not out at tea, had a nervous moment as he spent 12 balls on 99 and nearly played onto a delivery from Lahiru Kumara when just one run away from his century. However, he gracefully guided the pacer for four between slip and gully, bringing up his hundred with his 13th boundary off 162 balls.
Root eventually fell for 143, marking his sixth Test century at Lord’s, when he miscued a reverse scoop off fast bowler Milan Rathnayake and was caught by Pathum Nissanka at point, leaving England at 308-7.
By that time, Root had matched the record of 33 Test centuries held by fellow former England captain Cook, achieving the feat in his 145th match, compared to Cook’s 161 Tests.
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This achievement also placed the 33-year-old Root in joint-tenth position on the all-time list of Test century-makers, led by India’s Sachin Tendulkar, who amassed 51 hundreds in 200 Tests between 1989 and 2013.
Notably, Root, at 33, is the only active cricketer among this elite group, with all the others having retired from Test cricket.