Star England batter Joe Root applauded pacer Gus Atkinson for his stunning knock of 74* on Day 1 of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s on August 29 as well. Playing in only his fifth Test, Atkinson joined Root with England 216/6 on a tough batting track. However, he hit his maiden Test half-century, reaching the milestone off only 61 deliveries. Atkinson eventually finished Day 1 on 74* to help his side reach a dominant 358/7 in 88 overs as well.

In a video uploaded by the ECB after stumps on the opening day, Root said, “Yeah, it was good, it was nice. I’ll tell you why I was good watching Gussy bat at the end, being at the other end when he hit those straight sixes, they were unbelievable. It’s like watching someone like Jacques Kallis play. It was a great little innings from him, and there was some good partnerships along the way and we’ve found ourselves in a really good position now.”

However, Root himself reached milestones as he brought up his 33rd hundred with a stunning 143 off 206 balls. Despite being in control for
most of his innings, he was on 99 before finally reaching the landmark. With this, Joe Root levelled former captain Alastair Cook for most Test centuries by an England batter.

“I’m not going to lie, yeah, it was a little bit. You just want to get it, get over the line and get it done. So it was nice to get there but nice to be able to park it and concentrate on what was important, driving the game and getting us into a real position of strength by the end of the day,” concluded Joe Root.