Joe Root, stellar England cricketer, is now the second person from his country to achieve the milestone of 12000 Test runs when he did it on Day 2 of England vs West Indies third Test match being held at Edgbaston in Birmingham. He achieved this achievement with a boundary shot delivered during first over after lunch.
The ex-captain of the English Test team lies second to Sir Alastair Cook in terms of runs scored in the format while Cook finished with 12,472 runs at retirement in 2018. Currently, Root ranks seventh among all players who have played Test matches and he is aiming to go beyond Kumar Sangakkara’s 12400 total.
In the second innings of their last match at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, the Yorkshire batter had scored as many centuries as Steve Smith and Kane Williamson with 32 tons each. He also overtook Shivnarine Chanderpaul who was the previous holder of this position on the table of all-time Test run-makers, making him now occupy eighth place on that list.
England lost Ollie Pope and Harry Brook cheaply, leaving Joe Root to handle the situation on Day 2 in Birmingham
On day two, the hosts found themselves in early trouble due to the West Indian bowlers as Ollie Pope and Harry Brook were dismissed by Shamar Joseph and Jayden Seales respectively reducing them towards 54/5. Nevertheless, it was ever since such that Root and his captain Ben Stokes have steadied the ship to restore some sanity.
When West Indies opted for batting after Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss on Day One, they were reduced to 115 for five at one point after an opening stand of 76. However, Jason Holder and Joshua Da Silva forged a partnership that brought their innings back into line with 109 runs. Later on, lusty hits by Shamar Joseph and Seals took the visitors to 282 total.
With the ball swiftly sprinkled in all corners by the Caribbean islanders, Seales managed to send both Mark Wood and Zak Crawley back to the pavilion whilst Alzarri did his part by getting rid of Ben Duckett in no time. Though they have lost the series already, it would help West Indies rejuvenate for the series against South Africa at home grounds by winning at Edgbaston.
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