Former captain Joe Root becomes second English player to surpass 10000 test runs

Joe Root and Alastair Cook were exactly the same age when they reached the milestone – 31 years and 157 days.

Joe Root, the former England captain, reached the remarkable milestone on the fourth day of the first Test versus New Zealand at Lords, when he scored his 26th Test century and 10,000 Test runs.

England thrashed New Zealand by five wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series owing to Root’s 26th Test century.

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Root stepped in to bat with England trailing 277 and the score at 32/2. Shortly after, they were 69/4, but Root and new captain Ben Stokes helped to rebuild the team.

Before Stokes left for 54, the two put together a 90-run partnership.

Root, on the other hand, guaranteed his team’s victory by putting on an undefeated 120-run partnership with Ben Foakes, in which he scored 81 runs.

After Alastair Cook, Root has become the second and joint youngest Englishman to score 10,000 Test runs. Root and Cook were exactly the same age when they reached the milestone – 31 years and 157 days.

Root became the 14th player to accomplish the record, with Alastair Cook, England’s former captain, being the only other player to do so.

Other batsmen to accomplish the milestone include Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mahela Jayawardene, Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Sunil Gavaskar, and Younis Khan.

Despite England’s other hitters’ woes, Root amassed 1,708 Test runs last year, the third-best total in history.

He has 26 Test hundreds to his name, second only to Cook’s 33 for England.