Former England skipper Joe Root helped his team to a five-wicket win over New Zealand with a century – which is his 26th century in the format. During the course of the knock, Root also raced to 10,000 Test runs which now make him the highest run-scorer among active players in the longest format.
Root stepped down as skipper of the England Test team after 4-0 loss against Australia in the Ashes. "It had become a very unhealthy relationship, to be honest - the captaincy and me," Root told reporters after his unbeaten 115 helped England chase down 277 in the opening Test. "It started to really take a bad toll on my own personal health. I couldn't leave it at the ground any more; it was coming home. It wasn't fair on my family, on people close to me, and it wasn't fair on myself either,” he added. Root led England in 64 tests, winning 27 and losing 26.
Key stats from Root’s journey to 10,000 Test runs
Root is the 14th cricketer to complete 10,000 runs in Tests (10,015). Among active players, as aforementioned, Root is the highest-run scorer, and is followed by Virat Kohli, who has 8,043 Test runs at an average of 49.95. Third in the list is Steve Smith with 8,010 runs while Kane Williamson is fourth with 7,289 runs. But if you compare the average of all these players, Root’s average is the lowest. He has an average of 49.57, while Kohli, Williamson and Smith average 49.95, 52.81 and 59.77 respectively.
Root now has 15 centuries in England, the joint-most for any batsman in the country. He shares the record with Graham Gooch, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook, all of whom have 15 Test centuries in England.
Root also holds the record for scoring the most runs in a single Test series (1175). Second in the list is Sir Donald Bradman, who scored 974 runs in the 1930 Ashes. Root also tops the list of most runs in a single Test series by a captain.
Another impressive record held by Root is that of scoring the most number of centuries in a single Test series. He has scored six centuries in the World Test Championship, and is followed on the list by CL Walcott of West Indies, who scored five centuries in a series against Australia back in 1955.
Some of Joe Root’s best Test innings
While Root has played several great knocks in Tests, including 26 centuries, a few that stand out are:
254 vs Pakistan - In 2016, in the second Investec Test, Root scored 254 in the first innings and an unbeaten 71 in the second innings to help England defeat Pakistan by 330 runs.
228 vs Sri Lanka – In the World Test Championship, Root scored a knock of 228 in the first innings against Sri Lanka, away from home on a spinning track, which helped England win by seven wickets.
218 vs India – Last year, Root became the first batsman in the history of the game to score a double century in his 100th Test. He made 218 in the first innings and 40 in the second innings which guided England to a 227-run win over England.
