England’s Joe Root celebrates after reaching his 34th Test century, in the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Lord’s cricket ground on August 31, 2024
| Photo Credit: Action Images via Reuters
It took the Yorkshireman past the 33 Test hundreds scored by Alastair Cook to make Root England’s greatest centurion in the game’s longest format.
Joe Root hit a record 34th test century for England on Saturday as the home side set Sri Lanka a huge target of 483 to win the second Test at Lord’s and level the three-match series.
England were all out for 251 on the third day, Root making 103 following his knock of 143 in the first innings.
That took the Yorkshireman past the 33 Test hundreds scored by Alastair Cook to make Root England’s greatest centurion in the game’s longest format.
Sri Lanka have a massive task ahead of them if they are to avoid going 2-0 down in the series. The highest successful run chase in international test cricket is the 418 the West Indies chased down to beat Australia in 2003.
England built steadily on their 231-run lead from the first innings in the morning, playing under lights on a gloomy day in north London. They lost wickets steadily, with Ben Duckett, captain Ollie Pope and Harry Brook falling before the lunch interval.
Duckett (24) was dismissed with a fine two-man catch off Milan Rathnayake, getting a thick edge on the ball that Nishan Madushka at gully dived for but could only parry into the air for Angelo Mathews at second slip to grab.
Pope (17) trudged back to the pavilion not long after Duckett, having stepped back and slashed a ball from Asitha Fernando sailing into the air towards deep backward point and into the hands of Prabath Jayasuriya.
Brook (37) scored quickly and was lucky to survive one dropped catch by Madushka but offered him another chance near the boundary that the Sri Lanka man held onto.
After the break wickets fell more steadily, however, as Root kept his sights set firmly on a place in the history books.
Jamie Smith (26), Chris Woakes (5), Gus Atkinson (14) and Matthew Potts (2) all came and went as Root steadily climbed into the 90s, before hitting another boundary to move to 102. He jumped for joy, removed his helmet and saluted the crowd as his teammates applauded on the pavilion balcony.
