Ashes: 3 more 150s and Joe Root levels Sachin Tendulkar's tally in Tests

England batting great Joe Root slammed a brilliant 160 on day two of the ongoing fifth Ashes Test in Sydney, propelling his team to 384 in the first innings. Having failed to reach the three-digit mark on his past three tours Down Under, Joe smashed twice in this series alone, his first being at the Gabba in Brisbane during the Pink-Ball Test. However, with his latest hundred, he equalled Ricky Ponting’s tally of 41 Test hundreds, also completing his 17th score of 150 or more in Tests – just three shy of Sachin Tendulkar’s record (20).

Already chasing Sachin’s run tally in this format, behind by less than 2000 (1984) runs, Root could easily match Sachin’s record for most 150s in Test cricket in the meantime.

A Test batting giant, Root, has shown no signs of slowing down since peaking from 2021 onwards. In the past five years, he has the most Test centuries to his name (24), with those following (four players) sitting with 10 Test tons to their names.

Check out players with the most 150-plus totals in Tests –

• Sachin Tendulkar (IND) – 20
• Brian Lara (WI) – 19
• Kumar Sangakkara (SL) – 19
• Sir Donald Bradman (AUS) – 18
• Joe Root (ENG) - 17*
• Mahela Jayawardene (SL) – 16
  

Meanwhile, Root and Harry Brook began day two with England 211 for three in just 45 overs. Having lost almost as many overs to bad light and passing showers the previous day, both teams looked forward to making the most of the second day.

Brook was the first one to depart on a well-made 84, before Mitchell Starc accounted for England captain Ben Stokes on a duck to put England’s back against the wall. Under-fire gloveman Jamie Smith joined hands with Root, who completed his 41st Test hundred, his second on Aussie soil.

The pair stitched a handy stand, with Smith nearing his fifty, only to fall prey to part-timer Marnus Labuschagne’s on 46. Root completed his maiden 150 Down Under before Michael Neser picked the catch of the summer of his bowling to dismiss him on 160.

Root’s hundred on the second day of the SCG Test was also the first in international cricket this year.

England got all out on 384. Australia, in response, completed a fifty-run stand and counting for the first wicket.