Joe Root cracked a record-equalling 33rd test century for England as the hosts piled on the runs on the opening day of the second Test at Lord’s.
The former skipper made 143 as England amassed 358-7, while Gus Atkinson scored an eye-catching 73 not out before stumps.
🏴 ROOOOOOOOOT! 🏴
💯 Thirty-three Test hundreds
⬆️ Joint most England Test centuries
🌍 The world’s top-ranked men’s Test batter
👀 Closing in on the most Test runs for EnglandJoe Root, you are 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 🐐 PIC.TWITTER.COM/Q4OENAPIVR
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) AUGUST 29, 2024
The tourists raised a few eyebrows when Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss and chose to put England in under blue skies on what looked a placid track.
However the decision looked a clever one as a succession of batters gave away their wickets cheaply, with stand-in opener Dan Lawrence edging to the keeper on the walk for nine while stand-in skipper Ollie Pope went for one, holing out of an ill-advised pull shot.
Ben Duckett made a neat 40 but with England stumbling to 82-3 and 130-4, Root formed the bedrock of the innings and added 48 with Harry Brook (33) and 62 with Jamie Smith (21), but it needed the seventh-wicket stand of 92 with Surrey’s bowling all-rounder Atkinson to add respectability to the scoreboard in the benign conditions.
Root equalled the record for Test centuries at Lord’s with his sixth and passed Sir Alastair Cook as England’s highest Test run scorer on home soil, also matching Cook for 33 tons in an England shirt.
He survived a staunch LBW appeal on 11 and inside-edged past his own stumps on 59 but eventually fell in a preventable manner too, miscuing a reverse scoop off Milan Rathnayake to Pathum Nissanka at point, but Atkinson continued to complete a maiden half-century and build another 50 partnership with Matty Potts off the back of four sixes.
He made us wait for it, but the moment Joe Root and the whole of Lord’s was waiting for 🤩💯 PIC.TWITTER.COM/6CNDVJ89TD
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) AUGUST 29, 2024
