TOP SPIN AT THE TEST
THEY’VE TRUMPED HEADINGLEY 2019!
ENGLAND’S pursuit of 378 was their highest successful chase in Tests, beating 362 for nine (chasing 359) against Australia at Headingley in 2019. Only one other team have chased more to win a Test in England: Don Bradman’s 1948 Australian ‘Invincibles’ managed 404 for three.
● FOUR of England’s top 13 fourth-innings run chases have now come in successive Tests: 277, 299 and 296 against New Zealand, followed by this match against India.
● Jonny Bairstow is the 12th England player to score two hundreds in the same test — and the first since andrew strauss against india at Chennai in 2008. the only other Englishman to achieve the twin-ton feat at Edgbaston is Marcus trescothick, against west indies in 2004.
AFTER Root’s hundreds last summer at Trent Bridge, Lord’s and Headingley, this was his fourth of the series. It is a feat achieved by only three other England batsmen: Herbert Sutcliffe twice (against Australia in 1924-25 and South Africa in 1929), Walter Hammond (Australia in 1928-29), and Denis Compton (South Africa in 1947).
● Root’s career haul is now 28 test hundreds — more than any other active batsman. Virat Kohli and steve smith are next on the list, with 27, followed by Kane Williamson and David Warner on 24. Eleven of them have come since the start of last year alone.
● JOE ROOT now has nine Test hundreds against India — more than anyone in history. He previously shared the record with Garry Sobers, Viv Richards, Ricky Ponting and Steve Smith.
● BEFORE this summer, Root’s fourth-innings Test average was 32, with no hundreds. Now he can boast 115 not out at Lord’s, 87 not out at Headingley (both against New Zealand) and 142 not out here. His fourthinnings average is up to 41.
ONLY Mark Butcher, with 173 not out against Australia at Headingley in 2001, has scored more in a successful fourth-innings chase for England than Root’s unbeaten 142.