England‘s legendary batter Joe Root registered his 32nd Test hundred on Day 4 of the second Test against West Indies at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. The former England captain achieved this milestone in the second session of the day with a gorgeous drive through the deep point, celebrating by punching the air in delight. This century placed Root on par with legendary Australia captain Steve Waugh and his contemporaries Steve Smith and Kane Williamson in the all-time list of hundreds in the longest format. Root is now just one century away from equalling Alastair Cook‘s record of 33 Test hundreds, the most for England.

A crucial stand with Harry Brook and a milestone achievement for Joe Root

Root came to the crease after England lost Ollie Pope, who scored 51, with the team at 127. He immediately made an impact with a boundary on his sixth delivery against Jayden Seales. Root then continued to rotate the strike and stabilize the innings alongside Harry Brook.

The pair took their team to the stumps  on Day 3 without losing any more wickets. Resuming his innings on Day 4 from 37, Root received an early reprieve when an outside edge flew but didn’t carry to the third man fielder. He brought up his 63rd half-century off 91 balls in the first session, rising to third on the list of most half-centuries in Tests, behind Sachin Tendulkar (68) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (66).

Also READ: ENG vs WI: Fans erupt as Harry Brook lights up Trent Bridge with a magnificent century on Day 4 of the 2nd Test

Record-breaking and historical context

During his innings, Root surpassed Chanderpaul’s tally of 11,867 runs in the list of highest run-scorers in Test cricket. He also registered his sixth Test hundred against West Indies, equalling the records of Cook, Andrew Strauss, Allan Lamb and Colin Cowdrey. This was Root’s fifth Test century at Trent Bridge, putting him level with Mike Atherton and Denis Compton. Root’s solid knock was instrumental in England scoring over 400 runs in both innings of a Test match for the first time in history. England finished their second innings at 425, setting a daunting 385-run target for West Indies.

Here’s how Fans reacted:

Joe Root has a great chance to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most runs as well as most matches in test cricket. pic.twitter.com/eR7sT7DIq3

— R A T N I S H (@LoyalSachinFan) July 21, 2024

From 2020 onwards Joe Root scored 4500+ runs. The difference between him and the next best was 1500 runs. He played a lot of matches but his consistency was something remarkable in this decade. pic.twitter.com/yJOPY8o8xt

— Vijay Anaparthi (@VijayCricketFan) July 21, 2024

Joe Root has an average below 40 against only two teams, Bangladesh & Ireland, having played just two Tests against each of these Teams so far…

Fluctuation in his performance is like Index Fund : Least risky yet steady growth pic.twitter.com/ywksADU7yz

— Abhishek AB (@ABsay_ek) July 21, 2024

Hundred for Rootla again#ENGvsWI One the the modern day Great👍🏼 Joe Root https://t.co/GY3CCV0n8P

— Sandy Talks (@8560Sandeep) July 21, 2024

A magnificent 32nd Test hundred for Joe Root 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿#WTC25 | #ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/UWsnUBZZzO

— Javeria Asif (@javeria_maliK6) July 21, 2024

#JoeRoot has scored a century for the 32nd time in Test cricket! He is now just one away from breaking Alastair Cook’s record for England.#England #ENGvsWI #Benstokes #EnglandCricket #Harrybrook pic.twitter.com/rm4DpNEsDD

— Amit Mishra 🇮🇳 (@RealAmitMishr) July 21, 2024

Joe Root! pic.twitter.com/Cg5FG0lE4c

— Dan (@danbooth21) July 21, 2024

Joe Root chipping away silently at them big numbers.

Century number 32.

A proper test cricket player. pic.twitter.com/flwfcJEKCs

— 🪬Absurdism 🪢 (@absurdtips) July 21, 2024

32nd Test 💯 for Joe Root and 3rd ton for England in the Test#ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/6BEovh0HIk

— ThePoppingCrease (@PoppingCreaseSA) July 21, 2024

Test century no. 32 for England’s talismanic batter Joe Root.#Cricket #Test #England #JoeRoot #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/oFm3hKZrlr

— CricketTimes.com (@CricketTimesHQ) July 21, 2024

💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
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💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

JOE ROOT HAS TEST CENTURY NUMBER THIRTY TWO! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/ArTXMMbaO2

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 21, 2024

Also WATCH: ENG vs WI – Ben Stokes shakes his head in frustration after Zak Crawley’s unfortunate run out in the 2nd Test

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