Joe Root continued his outstanding run of form in the second innings at Lord’s yesterday (August 31), registering his fourth Test century of 2024. Aged 33, what records is he on track to break?
The former England captain struck hundreds in both innings to consolidate England’s position of dominance at Lord’s. Root’s second innings hundred was the 34th of his illustrious Test career, taking him ahead of Sir Alastair Cook as the Englishman with the most Test centuries. He is now just 95 runs away from Cook’s final Test career run tally of 12,472, another England record that will soon be Root’s.
Root now has 961 Test runs in 2024 and given England’s upcoming schedule, he has a decent shot of breaking Mohammad Yousuf’s all-time record for the most Test runs in a calendar year.
Yousuf scored an extraordinary 1,788 runs across 11 Tests in 2006; Root has seven more Tests to chase that down. As well as the final Test of the English summer at the Kia Oval next week, England have a pair of three-Test away tours to Pakistan and then New Zealand coming up before Christmas.
Root is currently scoring an average of 96.1 runs per Test this year – if he maintains that scoring rate, he will score a further 672 Test runs in 2024, taking him to 1,634 runs in total, 154 runs behind Yousuf’s record. Root would need to improve on his current rate of scoring to break Yousuf’s longstanding record, but not by much.
The juiciest record on Root’s radar is the biggest one of them all – Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record Test haul of 15,921 which is now ‘just’ over 3,500 runs away.
At Root’s 2024 rate of scoring, he is 36 Tests away from overtaking Tendulkar. As already established, England are still to play seven more Tests in 2024 before playing 11 more between the start of 2025 and the end of the 2025/26 Ashes series Down Under, by which point Root will have just turned 35. In theory, Root will be around 18 Tests away from Tendulkar’s record by the end of the next Ashes series.
The 36-Test mark is likely to come at the end of the 2027 Ashes, or the start of the following winter – when Root will be 36. For Root to break Tendulkar’s record in that, he needs to retain his current form, his outstanding fitness record and his relentless drive.
Speaking after this second hundred of the Lord’s Test, Root said that his hunger for runs was as high as ever. “I want to play for longer, I feel like I have a long way to go.” If he sticks to those words, the biggest record of them all may well be his in a few years’ time.
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.
