Joe Root Finally Hits a Test hundred in Australia
It was only a case of when and not if, and the iconic Gabba simply turned out to be the setting for it. Joe Root finally has a Test century on Australian soil. The England star reached the milestone scoring an unbeaten 135 off 202 balls, ending a 30-innings wait for his first Test hundred in Australia. It was also his 40th Test century, placing him one clear of Kumar Sangakkara (39) and just one behind Ricky Ponting (41).
Root first walked onto the Gabba as a 22-year-old in 2013. He had four previous fifty-plus scores at the Gabba but had never converted one into a hundred, until now.
His latest knock also extended his strong run of form. Four centuries in his last eight Test innings, scoring 574 runs at a mammoth average of 82.
His recent scores:
104(199), 40(96), 150(248), 29(45), 105(152), 0(7), 8(11), 138*(206)
England ended day one of the pink-ball Test at 325/9, a strong position considering no team has ever lost a day-night Test after passing 300 in the first innings. But they could have finished higher, if not for Mitchell Starc, who produced a superb 6 for 71. Starc went past Wasim Akram’s 414 Test wickets and claimed his sixth 5-wicket haul in day-night Tests. For context, no other bowler has more than two.
Joe Root’s Away Test averages:
South Africa – 50.21
New Zealand – 50.30
Sri Lanka – 65.50
India – 45.42
UAE – 57.40
West Indies – 51.50
Pakistan – 47.70
Australia – 38.44
England chose to bat after winning the toss, but Starc struck immediately. He removed Ben Duckett for a duck and dismissed Ollie Pope in his next over, leaving England 7 for 2. Root walked in under pressure, survived a testing early burst. But from there on, he looked and settled.
He rebuilt the innings with Zak Crawley, adding 117 runs for the third wicket. Crawley fell to Michael Neser, who was picked ahead of Nathan Lyon and bowled impressively throughout. Ben Stokes then suffered a run-out after a sharp throw from Josh Inglis, his 13th partner run-out in Tests, the joint-most for an England batter.
Starc returned late to rip through the lower order to clean up Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse, but Root and Jofra Archer produced a late flourish. Their unbeaten 61-run stand off 44 balls set a new record for the highest tenth-wicket partnership in a day-night Test, beating the 59 by Tom Blundell and Blair Tickner in Mount Maunganui in 2023.
Root’s 100th run also brought up his 1000th Test run in Australia, coincidentally arriving on the same ball.
Where Joe Root Stands Among the Greats
Root, with 40 Test hundreds, overtook Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 39 and is now one behind Ricky Ponting’s tally of 41. Jacques Kallis has hit 45 Test centuries and Sachin Tendulkar leads the elite list with 51 Test hundreds, the most to his name.
In comparison to the ‘Fab Four’, Root has 40, Steve Smith has 36, Kane Williamson has 33 and Virat Kohli, who is now retired from the format, finished with 30 centuries.
Since 2020, Joe Root has reinvented himself in comparison to his colleagues. Until 1st Jan 2021, Virat Kohli was leading the list with 27 Test hundreds, Steve Smith with 26, Kane Williamson with 21 while Joe Root had 17.
Since January 2021, Root has surged past his peers and by a margin. He has scored 23 Test centuries in this period, while Smith and Williamson have scored 10 each.
Root now has 13,689 Test runs, placing him 2,232 behind Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of 15,921 Test runs.