England’s middle order batsman Joe Root played a special knock on Day 1 of the ongoing first Ashes Test between England and Australia at the Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham, helping his team to dominate the action.
England struggled a little after electing to bat first on a surface that was conducive to batting, scoring just 176 runs. Despite having a stellar half-century to start the innings (61 off 73), Zak Crawley was out on the last ball before lunch.
But England’s talisman Joe Root stood his ground and withstood the fury of the Australian pacers. He continued Crawley’s winning ways and outplayed the opposition.
Root displayed unrivaled class as he played his drives and flicks to perfection. For the sake of entertaining the Edgbaston crowd, he also hit a few reverse scoops to the pacers.
Together with Jonny Bairstow, Root made a significant 121-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Bairstow finished with a run-a-ball 78 and also dominated while he was there. In the 76th over, which was bowled by Nathan Lyon (4/149), Root reached his century and gave a celebratory fist pump.
Root lost control shortly after reaching his century and smashed the Australian off-spinner for two sixes in one over.
At 393/8, Ben Stokes made the decision to declare early after Root reached 118 off 152 balls and was still unbeaten thanks to seven fours and four maximums. Throughout his outstanding innings, the Englishman broke a great deal of records as well.
Here are the three records that Joe Root broke against Australia in Birmingham
1. Most top scores in Test matches
As England’s main red-ball player over the years, Joe Root has played a crucial role. He significantly contributed, scoring 11,112 runs at an average of 50.08 over 239 Test innings.
Root, who has now top-scored for England 59 times out of those 239 innings, has had the most top-scoring performances by an England player in Test cricket history.
On Friday, England’s top scorer once again was Joe Root after he outscored Sir Alastair Cook. Cook top-scored 58 times for England in the 291 Test innings he played in.
2. 2nd highest number of international centuries among active players
Joe Root is regarded as one of the best batters of this generation, and not just when playing cricket for England. Over the past two to three years, he has significantly improved his performance. In fact, Root has scored 13 more Test centuries in the past 30 months than any other player.
As of right now, Root has 46 international centuries to his name. He now ranks as the second-most productive batter (among active players) in terms of hundreds scored, surpassing David Warner’s total of 45 centuries.
Virat Kohli (75 centuries) has only ever surpassed Joe Root in terms of international tons so far. As opposed to this, David Warner, who is currently batting on 8, will have the opportunity to tie Root for the total.
3. The joint-most centuries in Test matches
A trustworthy No. 1, Joe Root has advanced. After having ups and downs in the batting order early in his career, he became the No. 1 hitter. In Test cricket, there are four batters. In 127 innings of batting, which also includes 19 centuries, Root has amassed over 6,000 runs in his career to date while playing that position.
It was his 19th century while batting No. 1 against Australia. One in a test. No English batter has more than four at the moment, which is 4. When batting at No. 1, Kevin Pietersen also made up to 19 tons of contact. Four exist in England.
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