England Test skipper, Joe Root has gone past the tally of Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar and became the first player since former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith in 2008 to score more than 1600 Test runs in a calendar year. Root put up an unbeaten third-wicket partnership of 128 runs Dawid Malan as the pair led a fightback from England on Day 3 of the third Ashes Test in Adelaide.
Joe Root had earlier surpassed former English skipper, Michael Vaughan for most runs by an England batter in a calendar year in the longest format of the game. He ended the first session on Saturday on 57 runs and if he had managed to score a century, he could surpass Smith’s 2008 tally of 1656 runs, thus taking him up to third on the list.
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It would have also been the first time that Joe Root has scored a century in Australia. He had missed out on a ton in the first Test, getting dismissed on 89, and in Adelaide, he was dismissed in 63.
Fantastic 💯 partnership between @dmalan29 and @root66! 👏
Scorecard: https://t.co/RegszBy7f5#Ashes | 🇦🇺 AUSvENG 🏴 pic.twitter.com/wTmgy6f7OR
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) December 18, 2021
The list of most Test runs scored in a calendar year is led by former Pakistan batter Mohammad Yousuf, who had scored a whopping 1788 in just 11 Tests in 2006 at an average of 99.33. West Indies legend, Viv Richards is second with 1710 runs in 11 Tests at an average of 90.00 in 1976. Legendary Indian cricketers, Gavaskar and Tendulkar are seventh and sixth with 1555 runs (1979) and 1562 runs (2010) respectively.
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Following the first innings in Adelaide, Joe Root has a maximum of three innings available for the remainder of the year to surpass Yousuf’s record. After the second Test, England will be locking horns with Australia in Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test, scheduled between 26-30 December.
