Joe Root reached his 37th Test century at Lord’s on Thursday, overtaking Rahul Dravid and Steve Smith to move into the top five of all-time century-makers in Test cricket.
The England batter now sits behind Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45), Ricky Ponting (41) and Kumar Sangakkara (38) in the rankings.
The innings was Joe Root’s third consecutive Test hundred at Lord’s, following scores of 143 and 103. He became the third player to achieve this feat at the venue, after Jack Hobbs (1912–1926) and Michael Vaughan (2004–2005).
Against India, joe Root now has 11 Test centuries, matching Steve Smith’s tally against the same opposition. Smith’s mark came in 46 innings, while Root reached it in 60.
Joe Root’s latest century came in 192 balls, making it the third-slowest Test hundred for England under coach Brendon McCullum’s tenure. Only his 219-ball hundred in Ranchi in 2024 and Ben Foakes’ 206-ball effort against South Africa in 2022 were slower.
Root continues to provide stability to England’s batting line-up amid the side’s aggressive red-ball strategy under McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
