Joe Root Centuries: Complete Guide to His Test & ODI Hundreds

The sound is unmistakable when Joe Root drives through extra cover: a crisp crack, a hint of backspin, and the ball scuttles as if it has been trained to find the rope. His centuries don’t arrive with violent flourish as much as they accumulate with patient inevitability. He builds one shot at a time, wrists staying loose, head still, eyes light. And then, without warning, he ignites—reverse ramps to third man, late dabs that break a bowler’s patience, a tempo swing that leaves fielding captains scrambling. If you write about batting for a living, you learn quickly: Root’s hundreds are masterclasses in control, then audacity.

This is a complete, ever-green guide to Joe Root centuries—Test and ODI hundreds, double hundreds, venues and opponents, patterns and pivots. It’s designed as a single resource you can trust: tightly structured, editorially rich, and fit for anyone who wants more than a list. It’s for fans who want to relive the great knocks; for analysts who care about conversion rates, fourth-innings context, and captaincy splits; and for those who want to compare Root with Kohli, Smith, and Williamson without the noise.

Quick facts at a glance

• Test hundreds: Root has moved beyond the thirty-hundred mark in Tests.
• ODI hundreds: Root is England’s leading century maker in men’s ODIs.
• Double hundreds: Five in Tests.
• Highest scores: Test 254 (v Pakistan, Old Trafford); ODI 133* (v Bangladesh, The Oval).
• First Test hundred: Headingley, against New Zealand.
• Latest Test hundred: Away in India, at Ranchi.
• Fourth-innings hundreds: Rare but unforgettable; includes a match-winning chase at Edgbaston v India.

All of those highs tell a story. The nuance lies in where and how those hundreds were made—the venues, the bowling attacks, the match situations—and what they reveal about Root’s method.

Joe Root Test Centuries: the full picture

Root’s Test hundreds are spread across the cricket world, shaped by very English beginnings and a subcontinental education. He has scored at Lord’s, Headingley, Trent Bridge, and The Oval; he has folded his wrists through the turning ball in Galle and Chennai; he has gone massive against Pakistan and New Zealand; he has threaded hundreds into Ashes summers at home. He has yet to raise a Test hundred in Australia—a quirk that adds edge to every tour down under—but his away record remains formidable, especially in Asia.

How a Root hundred happens

• The start: soft hands, disciplined leave, late play. Root is a virtuoso of batting in England because he reads length early and plays the ball under his eyes. The first thirty runs are his quiet kill.
• The middle: manipulation. He works spinners with a full sweep arsenal—conventional, reverse, paddle—and picks up twos as a default setting. Against pace, he nudges back-of-length into gaps at will.
• The release: modern risk. The ramp over the slips, the one-leg-scoop off fast bowlers, the sudden flurry after a fifty—Root accelerates without losing his shape. Under the McCullum-Stokes ethos he has pressed the accelerator sooner and with more conviction.
• The finish: unfussy. When he gets in, he looks unshiftable. The best Root hundreds feel trouble-proof; his double hundreds, especially, come with long passages where bowlers are playing for pride.

Centuries that defined phases of his career

Headingley v New Zealand, his first. A homecoming of sorts, early in his career, the kind of maiden hundred that signals temperament more than dominance. Clean drives, nimble rotation, a sense that Test batting is exactly as he imagined it: chess, not boxing.

Old Trafford v Pakistan, 254. Root at his most stubborn. He built the innings like a mason—layer after layer, seamers worn into the ground, spinners without purchase. There was no hunt for glamour; the beauty came from relentlessness. That score remains his highest in Tests.

Hamilton v New Zealand, 226. A response knock. He arrived under pressure after a run of lean scores and built something restorative and vast. The control of off-stump, the clarity in defense, the shot-selection recalibrated to conditions—classic Root, reasserting standards.

Galle v Sri Lanka, 228. Proof of mastery in Asia. Sweeps of every shape, balance perfect on the back foot, subtle touches around the corner. It was a reminder: his ceiling against spin is elite.

Chennai v India, 218. This innings was both a statement and a study in footwork. He scored all around the ground against a world-class attack, threading singles and twos until the bowlers’ plans frayed. It elevated his away-in-Asia aura.

Edgbaston v India, 142* in the fourth innings. The modern chase turned classic. With controlled aggression, he paired poise with flourish, easing the run-rate while denying India a way back. Call it his most watchable hundred; it was the one that felt like a message to the format: fourth-innings hundreds can be art and heist at once.

Test hundreds by conditions: home, away, and Asia

• In England: Root’s centuries at Lord’s, Headingley, Trent Bridge, and The Oval are built on reading the new ball. He tests the seam with soft hands, forces bowlers into straighter lines, then expands. Streaks at Lord’s—200* v Sri Lanka, 190 v South Africa, 115* v New Zealand—made the old pavilion feel like his living room. Headingley has given him both a debut flourish and a home-ground woodwind line that he returns to in big summers.
• Away from home: His hundreds in South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, and New Zealand feel method-heavy. In Port Elizabeth he endured; in Colombo and Galle he dominated; in Chennai he sculpted. That blend—endurance plus options—separates him from many subcontinent tourists.
• Asia: Few non-Asian batters of his era have worn spin better. The sweep family is central to his plan, but the control is in the feet: decisive back-and-across for the late cut, early press forward to smother. He has multiple big hundreds on turning tracks, including two doubles on real cricket pitches, not featherbeds.

Ashes centuries

Root’s Ashes hundreds have come at home. Lord’s, Cardiff, Edgbaston, Trent Bridge—they’ve felt like landmark statements. There was a youthful epic at Lord’s against Australia, and a fast, mood-swinging hundred at Edgbaston. It remains one of the curiosities of modern Test cricket that he hasn’t raised a hundred in Australia despite a stack of fifties there; the storyline is familiar and unfinished, and it keeps those tours thrillingly tense for him.

Root’s double hundreds and 150+ scores

These are the days Root goes from command to conquest. Every one of these knocks shows a different gear—often as captain, sometimes on tours when leadership felt heavy on the shoulders—and yet the batting reads serene.

Double hundreds (Tests)

• 200* v Sri Lanka, Lord’s — A classical, tempo-perfect home double. The early watchfulness gave way to fluent drives and the full sweep catalogue against spin. Not just a big number; a blueprint for how to build in challenging English light.
• 254 v Pakistan, Old Trafford — The magnum opus. Played within himself for long stretches, broke the bowlers’ lengths, created fatigue and then harvested runs. England built the match around it.
• 226 v New Zealand, Hamilton — A captain’s restoration. Compact, measured, technically immaculate. It shut down a poor run and re-anchored a tour.
• 228 v Sri Lanka, Galle — A sweeping masterclass. It wasn’t just the volume of runs; it was how he manipulated the field and bowlers in heat and turn.
• 218 v India, Chennai — A high-class subcontinental double against an attack that rarely gives doubles. It made a statement about his range and endurance under pressure.

Selected 150+ scores (Tests)

• 190 v South Africa, Lord’s — The perfect captaincy debut hundred: declarative and domineering, yet risk-aware.
• 180 v Australia, Lord’s — Flowing and emphatic. He took on Australia’s attack and stretched the game quickly out of their reach.
• 176 v New Zealand, Trent Bridge — Acceleration with authority. He played late, then opened up the scoring arcs, building a stand that turned the match and the series mood.
• 182* v West Indies, Lord’s — A master’s closure. Single-minded run-gathering that made the pursuit or advantage feel comfortable.

ODI hundreds: Joe Root’s white-ball pedigree

Root is the leading ODI centurion for England. He is not the loudest hitter in the room—Jos Buttler and Jason Roy take that mantle—but he is the premier tempo curator. Ask bowlers in one-day cricket who exhausts plans, and Root’s name arises quickly.

How Root builds ODI hundreds

• Power in accumulation. Root’s “default double” is the quiet two. He moves the ball just behind square and runs hard; he feasts on fifth-stump lines with a waiting late cut; he works spinners with gentle wrists.
• Finisher’s calm. Many of his hundreds have arrived in chases. He calculates risk meticulously: first fifty with almost no high shots, next fifty at a strike rate rising on feel rather than force.
• Partner in crime. Root’s ODI hundreds often coincide with a top-order click: opening salvos from Roy or Bairstow, then Root builds the middle, then Buttler hammers the end. At times, Root and Morgan stitched mature partnerships that rebuilt innings from wobbles to par.

Notable ODI centuries

• 133* v Bangladesh, The Oval — A chase of bottle and brains. England wobbled, Root steadied, and then controlled the final phase with shot selection that avoided all gamble.
• Twin tons v India in an English summer — The second of the pair came with a last-over flourish; the celebrations showed a glimpse of Root’s competitive edge beneath the genial exterior.
• 107 v West Indies, Nottingham — Classic pacing on a flat surface against a batting-heavy opponent; Root’s innings made a bigger score secure without fuss.
• Tournament hundreds stacked around key group games — He has an unusual knack for group-stage temperament: no panic, no theatrics, just runs until the equation is simple.

Joe Root hundreds by opponent: who he has feasted on most

• India: A defining rivalry. Home and away, Root’s centuries against India have grown in stature, from layered hundreds in England to study-in-spin masterclasses in Chennai and Ranchi. His fourth-innings hundred at Edgbaston sits in modern folklore.
• Sri Lanka: Abundant success. The double at Galle and heavy scoring through Colombo and Pallekele mark him as one of the rare non-Asian batters fully comfortable sweeping in turning conditions.
• Pakistan: The highest mark arrived against Pakistan at Old Trafford, and he has found runs consistently against their various attacks in England.
• Australia: Multiple home Ashes hundreds, including a youthful statement at Lord’s and a mood-setting hundred in a later series opener. The absence of a hundred in Australia keeps the contest deliciously open.
• New Zealand: Big runs home and away, including the captain’s 226 at Hamilton and heavy scoring in English conditions.
• South Africa: Centuries that swing sessions. A big one as captain at Lord’s; away hundreds that required grit and early caution before expansion.
• West Indies: Several elegant hundreds sprinkled through tours and at Lord’s; the kind of innings that compound quietly and then burst.

Joe Root centuries by venue: the places that suit him best

• Lord’s: Root’s temple. A double, a captain’s 190, a calm 115* chase, and an unbeaten 180-plus to close a contest. He uses the slope like a local.
• Headingley: Storybook beginnings and a crucial later-career ton against India. His home ground seems to pause for him when he’s in the nineties.
• Trent Bridge: Acceleration ground. When Root goes big here, the scoring rate jumps late; it’s also where a mega partnership with Bairstow turned a series.
• Old Trafford: The stage of his 254—a patient, punishing innings that flattened Pakistan.
• Galle and Chennai: Twin capitals of his Asian supremacy, where his sweep and tempo control underlined a complete method.

Centuries as captain vs non-captain

He carried the leadership lightly with the bat. Root’s tally of hundreds as England Test captain sits in double figures, and he owns the record for most Test runs as England’s captain. His captaincy centuries were not merely volume; they were problem-solving labs. A high captaincy double in Asia, a captain’s 190 at Lord’s, and restorative tons during stretching tours showed a leader who insulated the dressing room with runs.

Post-captaincy, his batting entered a state of calm expression. The responsibilities shifted, the preparation remained, and his shot-making broadened. The reverse ramp emerged as a signature against pace, most vividly against Australia and New Zealand, and his strike rate without captaincy pressure elevated without harming his base average.

Fourth-innings hundreds and match-winners

Root’s fourth-innings hundreds are few—fourth-innings hundreds are rare in general—but when they happen they change memory. The Edgbaston chase against India was one of those innings that compresses all the old clichés—chasing is hard, spinners decide late, the ball gets old and ragged—and then renders them moot. Root’s pacing was modern: match-situation aggression with classical margins. In other match-defining hundreds, his unbeaten 115 v New Zealand at Lord’s produced a chase of ice and nerve, and home Ashes centuries often set up wins rather than purely inflate totals.

Conversion rate and tempo: the evolution of a hundred-maker

Early Root sometimes got stuck on the wrong side of the line: stylish fifties that stalled at the final gate. Over time, two things changed:

• The defensive base hardened. He became almost impossible to nick off once set in England. He learned when to play and when to leave from the top shelf textbook.
• The tempo window widened. Particularly under the Stokes-McCullum partnership, Root changed gear earlier. He still respected the moving ball, but he allowed himself to play the ramp, the reverse lap, the extra-cover ping against seam in the middle session. That extra gear carried him past the hundred line more often and produced faster hundreds without feeling irresponsible.

A note on the Root ramp

Few Test greats have added a brand-new, high-risk scoring option deep into their careers and made it look as inevitable as a push to point. Root’s reverse ramp over the cordon against pace is a field-breaking cheat code. It punishes captains who hold a third slip for too long; it forces deep third and changes the coverage of backward point; it opens pockets for singles that feed his strike rotation. The shot has appeared in Test hundreds during the second and third phases of his innings, acting as both a release and a statement: your hard length has a cost.

Records, milestones, and context

• Most ODI hundreds for England: Root sits at the top of that list.
• Test doubles: Five, across three countries, including two in Asia. Very few non-Asian batters have two double hundreds in Asia.
• Highest Test score: 254 v Pakistan at Old Trafford.
• Highest ODI score: 133*, The Oval.
• England ladder: Root is closing on the national record for most Test hundreds, held by Alastair Cook. He has already surpassed several English greats in both runs and hundreds.
• Calendar-year dominance: Root has had a period where he batted like a metronome in whites, breaking through with big, repeated scores across continents. The exact totals matter less than the memory: everywhere England went, he batted long.

Joe Root ODI hundreds in context of modern white-ball batting

In an era of 360-degree power-hitters, Root is 360 by craft. He doesn’t rely on clearing the rope to tilt an innings; he relies on never letting it stall. More than once, England have been two down inside the first ten and recovered because Root walked in and re-stitched the rate. His hundreds rarely feel like sprints. They feel like a long, even stride that somehow covers more ground than anyone else’s.

Comparisons: Root vs Kohli vs Smith vs Williamson (centuries and style)

Root vs Kohli centuries

• ODI: Kohli sets the gold standard for ODI hundreds by sheer volume and the speed of accumulation in chases. Root is England’s leading man but trails Kohli’s historic tally. What Root matches is ODI control: he times chases with similar calm, albeit with less boundary hitting.
• Test: Both have built hundreds across conditions, but their styles differ. Kohli’s Test hundreds often feature fast, straight-bat driving and an overt domination when set; Root’s are more about angles, late play, and invisible pressure. Root’s subcontinental doubles and away hundreds create a compelling résumé.

Root vs Smith centuries

Test: Smith’s conversion rate to hundreds is freakish, and in the Ashes he built a reputation on making runs even when innings felt hostile. Root has produced more volume over time and across venues with a higher gear late in innings but remains without a Test hundred in Australia—an edge that Smith owns in the rivalry. Root’s hundreds against spin are more versatile in shot range; Smith’s against pace are feats of line-owning.

Root vs Williamson centuries

Test: This is the connoisseur’s comparison. Both players assemble hundreds that are comfort food for purists: balance, alignment, humility of footwork. Williamson’s hundreds can look like meditation; Root’s like a craftsperson at work. Root’s edge is volume in England and doubles in Asia; Williamson’s is consistency of conversion in seaming conditions and a serene dismantling of spin without the sweep reliance.

Root vs the English pantheon

Against England greats, Root has already claimed huge territory. More Test runs as captain, most ODI hundreds, and a file of away hundreds that stand up to scrutiny. He is tracking toward or near the summit for Test hundreds by an Englishman, and in terms of away heft—particularly in Asia—his centuries are among England’s best of the professional era.

Selected tables and structured notes

Joe Root double hundreds (Tests)

• 200* v Sri Lanka, Lord’s — Declaration platform, sweep-led dominance.
• 254 v Pakistan, Old Trafford — Career-best; methodical dismantling.
• 226 v New Zealand, Hamilton — Captain’s balm after a lean run.
• 228 v Sri Lanka, Galle — Subcontinental masterclass.
• 218 v India, Chennai — Statement innings in high heat and turn.

Joe Root fourth-innings Test hundreds

• 142* v India, Edgbaston — Big chase sealed with composure and clever scoring.
• Others: Rare; Root tends to settle fourth-innings with high-value fifties or unbeaten finishes. The Edgbaston hundred is the headline.

Joe Root 150+ Test scores (selection)

• 254 v Pakistan, Old Trafford.
• 228 v Sri Lanka, Galle.
• 226 v New Zealand, Hamilton.
• 218 v India, Chennai.
• 200* v Sri Lanka, Lord’s.
• 190 v South Africa, Lord’s.
• 180 v Australia, Lord’s.
• 176 v New Zealand, Trent Bridge.
• 182* v West Indies, Lord’s.

What makes Root’s hundreds travel

• Batting position fluidity: Root has excelled at four and three, adjusting his method to new ball or soft ball as needed. At four he becomes a ruthless finisher of top-order platforms; at three he wears the early lateral movement with technique and patience.
• Two-pace hundreds: The first fifty is often sub-fifty strike rate; the second fifty can flip that under Bazball. This two-pace dynamic reduces dismissal risk early and maximizes scoreboard stress when bowlers tire.
• Partnership sense: Root’s match awareness is elite. He builds hundreds around the partner—shielding a new batter, feeding the in-form aggressor, or quietly monopolizing strike when tailenders arrive. His hundred stands with Bairstow at Trent Bridge against New Zealand, his symphonies with Stokes in England and India, and intelligent time with Moeen Ali in spinning conditions reveal a batter with a captain’s eye even when not wearing the armband.
• Shot map discipline: Against pace he rarely drives on the up early; against spin he earns the right to go over the top. Root’s centuries are low on false shots and high on late contact—one reason he scores big more often than his critics sometimes admit.

Joe Root centuries that shifted series

• Lord’s v Sri Lanka, 200*: Calmed a series and set tones for a dominant summer. That innings taught young teammates what an old-fashioned long stay can yield.
• Old Trafford v Pakistan, 254: Series-shaping, heavy in meaning and mass. It broke the back of the attack and created an aura around Root’s technique that lasted across seasons.
• Hamilton v New Zealand, 226: Resetting a tour’s trajectory. The innings drained noise from the conversation and placed the spotlight back on cricketing method.
• Galle v Sri Lanka, 228 and Chennai v India, 218: Bookends of a subcontinental ascension. They made him the visiting batter of his era most trusted against top-tier spin at home.
• Edgbaston v India, 142*: A chase so clear-eyed that it reset the field for how England could approach fourth-innings batting under a new leadership philosophy.

Joe Root ODI hundreds that meant more than numbers

• 133* v Bangladesh, The Oval: Tournament pressure, chase scoreboard, and Root walked it in with no panic. It told the world that England’s ODI side had a conductor, not just soloists.
• Final-over finish v India, Headingley: The celebration showed edge, but the innings had been all control. Chasing or setting, Root finds the rhythm that makes teammates’ roles simple.
• Big series knocks v West Indies and Pakistan: He answered the “power” critique by doing what he does—turning strike, finding gaps, and reaching hundreds with hard running rather than brute force.

Where Root still chases

• Test century in Australia: That white whale remains. He has made plenty of fifties there, looked gorgeous, and yet been denied. The next tour will carry its own hum.
• T20 international century: Not his format of dominance. His white-ball centuries live in ODIs, where his strengths matter most.
• More fourth-innings statements: He has one for the ages; adding another would place him firmly inside the rare club of fourth-innings poets.

A century-maker’s toolkit: technical notes from the field

• Trigger and alignment: Small trigger, big returns. Root’s initial press doesn’t over-commit him; it leaves him ready to go back and across, a key in England to counter length.
• Hands and late play: He sets his bat late against seam, which means edges often die and line is handled with patience. In Asia, his hands are alive for sweeps; he keeps the head still so that the sweep looks safe, not speculative.
• Scanning: Root is a serial scanner—the scoreboard, the field, the bowler’s hand. It’s why his hundreds are low on dead balls and high on busy strokes.
• Risk switch: He times his risk. The reverse ramp tends to emerge after he’s through the forties or sixties, never early. Against spin, the first aerial shot often comes after he’s forced the in-out field and is confident he won’t miscue to the rider.

FAQs on Joe Root centuries

How many Test centuries does Joe Root have?

He has moved beyond thirty Test hundreds, placing him among the top English Test century makers and within a small global elite for his era.

How many ODI hundreds does Joe Root have?

He has the most ODI centuries by an England men’s batter. The exact count continues to grow; he separated himself from the pack across multiple summers and major tournaments.

How many double hundreds does Joe Root have?

Five in Tests. They came against Sri Lanka (twice, including one unbeaten at Lord’s), Pakistan, New Zealand, and India.

What is Joe Root’s highest score in Tests and ODIs?

Test: 254 v Pakistan at Old Trafford.
ODI: 133* v Bangladesh at The Oval.

Which opponent has Joe Root scored the most centuries against?

India and Sri Lanka sit prominently in his ledger, with Australia, Pakistan, and New Zealand not far behind. The India dossier is especially rich across home and away; against Sri Lanka he has been prolific in turning conditions.

How many centuries has Joe Root scored as captain?

A double-figure tally while leading, alongside the national record for Test runs as England captain. Notably, several captaincy hundreds were huge—two of his double hundreds arrived with the armband.

When was Joe Root’s first Test century?

At Headingley against New Zealand. It felt like the beginning of a very long relationship with the hundreds list.

When was his latest century?

Away in India at Ranchi, a classic corrective after a lean stretch, built on patience and craft.

Has Joe Root scored a Test century in Australia?

Not yet. He has crafted many fifties there and batted beautifully at times, but that specific milestone remains open. It’s the subplot that keeps Australian tours must-watch.

How does Root’s conversion rate compare to Kohli, Smith, and Williamson?

Early in his career, Root’s conversion lagged. Over time, particularly under a more assertive team philosophy, it improved markedly. Smith has historically converted more ruthlessly; Kohli’s conversion across formats is exceptional; Williamson’s is quietly robust. Root’s recent phases have tightened the gap.

Joe Root centuries by innings and match context

• First-innings hundreds: Often set up games by taking England to advantage from even starts. He’s particularly good at stretching first-innings runs from 250 to 400-plus platforms with risk-less cricket.
• Second-innings hundreds: These can be brutal for opponents; his pace of scoring increases here, particularly at home, when the pitch flattens slightly and Root trusts his eyes even more.
• Third-innings hundreds: Match-position experts love these. Root has produced third-innings hundreds that kill contests by building insurmountable targets or remove collapse risk after a wobble.
• Fourth-innings hundreds: Rare and precious. The Edgbaston chase is the reference point; it was both statement and solution.

Partnerships that framed Root’s centuries

• Jonny Bairstow: From Yorkshire chat to international carnage, their stands have combined Root’s shape with Bairstow’s strike. Trent Bridge against New Zealand is the poster: Root’s tempo trigger pulled at the exact moment Bairstow found top gear.
• Ben Stokes: Exuberance and control. Root’s hundreds with Stokes often carry a vibe—momentum gathering, crowd rising, the match tilting.
• Alastair Cook: For a period, Cook and Root were England’s spine. Root’s hundreds alongside Cook felt like baton passes between eras.
• Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan (ODIs): The platform builders and the finishers. Root’s ODI hundreds slotted perfectly between Morgan’s orchestration and Buttler’s blasting.

Venue spotlights: How Root adapts

• Lord’s: He uses the slope economically, rarely pushing hard against it early. When he gets to fifty, Lord’s becomes a runway: the square boundaries come into play with cuts and flicks, and the straight drive arrives late.
• Headingley: It can nibble. Root’s home thousands are built on that early leave and back-of-length control. When the light flattens, his late cut becomes a constant.
• Galle and Chennai: Root trusts the sweep. The moment the ball starts to grip, he changes pickup points, gets outside off stump, and uses the lap as a pressure release. His doubles here were not accidents; they were constructed advances against specific plans.
• Old Trafford: Slightly quicker surface, bounce more even. Perfect for his back-foot punch and extra-cover drive once set. The 254 was a clinic in pacing at a venue that suits batters who like time.

The psychology of a Root hundred

• Patience as weapon. Root’s affect rarely changes. Whether he’s on 4 or 94, the body language is understated. Bowlers hate that; there’s no emotional entry point.
• Small goals. He builds in tens: get to 20; lock to 30; tuck to lunch; back into the forties smoothly; never let the nineties become an event. He has missed out in the nineties before, but unlike some, his method doesn’t change.
• Field study. Watch him between balls. He’s looking at ring placements, asking how to get twos from midwicket or backward point, not just where the next four is. Hundreds happen because singles never stop.

Why his centuries matter to England’s identity

When England leaned into a more expressive Test identity, Root became the hinge. His hundreds made the risk look rational. He was the guy proving you could accelerate without recklessness, that finesse could coexist with nerve. In ODIs, as England rewired their white-ball DNA, Root’s hundreds provided stability while others pushed ceilings. He is the connective tissue between eras, formats, and philosophies.

Root’s place among contemporary greats

Metrics, awards, and charts will place him firmly inside the era’s first rank. But it’s the texture of his hundreds that will live longer than lists. The Old Trafford masterpiece, the Galle and Chennai epics, the Edgbaston chase—these are innings that explain cricket to people who love shape and story. Joe Root centuries are not just markers of time; they are chapters in how modern batting learned to be both patient and adventurous, classical and inventive.

Key takeaways

• Root is England’s most reliable generator of big Test hundreds this century, with five doubles across conditions and a highest score of 254.
• He is England’s leading ODI centurion, a tempo-builder whose hundreds often decide chases by calming the rate rather than smashing it.
• His Test hundreds in Asia set him apart among non-Asian batters—two double hundreds there, both built on fearless sweeping and perfect balance.
• As captain, he scored heavily; after captaincy, he added new gears. The result is a century-making engine that now fires earlier and runs longer.
• He remains without a Test ton in Australia, a live storyline that makes every away Ashes Test with him at the crease a small epic.

The centuries will keep coming. Root long ago learned the two truths of elite batting: that the game is about knowing what not to do, and that, once in, you’re duty-bound to make it count. His hundreds are the product of that discipline and a mind that always seems one field change ahead. And every time he reaches three figures, you realise again what England have had for a decade and what bowlers will still have to solve for seasons to come: a master of time, touch, and the long, unstoppable hundred.