The former England skipper had made three in the first innings as England were dismissed for 280. After bowling New Zealand out for 125 in the second, England extended their lead with a brilliant batting display, led by 92 and 96 from Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell, respectively.

Root, walking out at No.4 and extended the misery on the hosts further in Wellington, notching his fifth Test fifty in 2024 to go with five hundreds. It also extended his brilliant form that now sees him average 56.29 in the last four years till the time of writing.

Overall, Root has played 151 Tests and is touching in on 13,000 runs, a feat achieved by four other cricketers in the past. He has 35 Test hundreds to go with 65 fifties, taking his tally to 100 scores of 50 or more in the format.

He overtook Rahul Dravid’s record of 99 fifty-plus Test knocks and is now behind only three greats of the game. He should be able to leapfrog Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting (103 fifty-plus scores) soon, and will then only have Sachin Tendulkar (119) ahead of him, a record he should overhaul too. He is also the only active player in the top ten list.

Test batters with most fifty-plus scores

Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.