Joe Root Centuries: Complete List, Records & Latest Century

Last updated: October

Latest century: a meticulous, pressure-soaked hundred at The Oval against Sri Lanka, all hands and wrists, all tempo and trust.

Joe Root Centuries (All Formats)

Some batters collect runs; Joe Root builds arguments. Ball after ball. Session after session. His hundreds don’t just fill columns; they shape matches. They neutralize a new ball, smother a mystery spinner, outwait a snarling quick, and then — when the game has softened under his control — they expand into something undeniable. Over a long career in international cricket, Root’s centuries have become a study in pace, patience, and precision, across formats and continents.

At a glance — Root’s century ledger

• Tests: 33 centuries
• ODIs: 16 centuries
• T20Is: 0 centuries
• International centuries: 49
• Double centuries: 5
• Highest score: 254 (Test)
• Ashes centuries: 4
• World Cup centuries: 3
• Centuries as Test captain: 14
• Test centuries in Asia: 9
• Home vs away (Tests): 15 home, 18 away
• Fourth-innings Test centuries: 1
• Centuries at Lord’s: 3
• Centuries at Headingley: 2
• Centuries at The Oval: 2
• Centuries at Trent Bridge: 2

The Root method: how his hundreds happen

Root’s hundreds have a rhythm that coaches can diagram but bowlers still can’t interrupt. Watch the set-up: the open stance just a fraction, that slight dip of the back knee, head still, eyes level. The first thirty balls aren’t a negotiation; they’re reconnaissance. He wants to know which balls are holding in the pitch and which are skidding, where the breeze is pushing the wobble seam, what the keeper’s hands say about bounce. Attack comes later. Early on, he’s content to take singles to third man, glide the ball behind point, and ask seamers to bowl ever closer to the stumps.

Once in, he unfurls his signature pattern. Against pace, he’s all late hands: back-foot punches and deflections square of the wicket, the softest dabs that still end in twos. Against spin he blossoms. The sweep menu — conventional, reverse, slog-sweep, paddle — is not merely weaponry; it’s a schedule. He forces a spinner to bowl straighter with the hard sweep, then opens the off-side with the reverse, then waits for the inevitable drag-down. A Root hundred in Asia often looks like a chess endgame: every square controlled, every trap laid two moves ahead.

In the shorter formats, the same time-control instinct becomes tempo management. His ODI hundreds rarely begin with big shots; they accelerate through riskless boundaries, late cuts, and cross-bat sweeps into wide gaps. The strike rate climbs without you noticing. By the final ten overs, he’s both anchor and executor.

Joe Root Test centuries: the complete picture

The word “complete” matters here. Root’s Test hundreds cover everything: early-career statements, marathon doubles, fourth-innings craft, and those calm, stoic efforts under stress when others rushed. If you’re building a model of sustainable Test batting, you start by feeding in Root’s hundreds.

Conversion rate and the second-gear problem that never lasted

There was a time when “Root’s conversion” was a constant pub debate. He’d glide to fifty, look immaculate, and then find a way to miscue. That phase ended not by accident but by design. He tightened his off-stump discipline, trusted his sweep package even on two-paced pitches, and changed his scoring routes once set — less cover-drive risk to balls not quite full enough, more waiting for the short-of-a-length cut or the spinner’s miscue. The result: more hundreds, and more big ones. The doubles started to stack, not as indulgence but as inevitability.

As captain vs non-captain: two Root personas, same engine

• As captain: 14 Test hundreds. He was the team’s oxygen and compass. The job’s weight never crushed his movement patterns; if anything, his discipline sharpened. In those leadership hundreds, you could see his social role at the crease: talking a partner through a spell, slowing down the bowler’s rhythm with gardening, controlling the game’s heart rate.
• As non-captain: the same control, more freedom at times. He plays a touch earlier with the reverse-sweep, a shade more willing to skip down to spin. The essence remains: time in the middle equals power over the match.

Home vs away: the hallmark of a great

A batter’s away hundreds tell the truth. Root’s away ledger is the quiet triumph of his career. He’s carried England through tricky mornings in Johannesburg, through green-laced afternoons in Wellington, through parched, turning pitches from Galle to Chennai and on to Rawalpindi. His away hundreds outnumber his home ones, a fact that places him in the rare air reserved for batters who travel and still bend the game to their will.

Joe Root double centuries: the five epics

Double hundreds are Root’s declarations of ownership over a Test. Each one had a different flavor, each one answered a different question.

• 254 vs Pakistan, Old Trafford: A masterclass in restraint turned into dominance. He defanged Yasir Shah not by slogging him but by replaying the sweep feints and using the square boundaries. The innings switched on England’s series, and the scoreline never cracked that control again.
• 226 vs New Zealand, Hamilton: A mental endurance test on a slow, flattening pitch where you could bat for days and still not be safe. Root refused false tempo. The ball died, and so did New Zealand’s plans.
• 228 vs Sri Lanka, Galle: The innings that explained why Root is the best visiting player of spin in a generation. Reverse-sweeps from ball one? Not quite. He built the field first, forced the angles, then shredded the trap. Perfect footwork, soft hands.
• 218 vs India, Chennai: He played three formats inside one hundred — early rope-a-dope against the new ball, mid-innings control through the sweep corridors, and an evening flourish that ensured a decisive lead. The greatest compliment? India ran out of ideas.
• 200* vs Sri Lanka, Lord’s: The most English of Root’s doubles: grey skies, a pitch that kept whispering “play late,” and a captain’s tempo that never once rushed. He left balls most would stab at, and the scoreboard still rolled.

Joe Root highest score: 254 and the architecture of a marathon

That Old Trafford epic remains the definitive Root marathon. It was built on four pillars:

1. Off-stump clarity: he pulled his hands inside the ball even when the angle teased him to reach.
2. Spin control by scheduling: sweep, reverse, then the late cut when in.
3. Strike rotation with zero ego: singles to deep square kept bowlers away from their plan A.
4. Mental battery management: visible slowing between balls, deep breaths, delayed setups — routines that kept his concentration elastic across sessions.

Joe Root centuries in Asia: sweep economics and quiet violence

Root’s nine Test hundreds in Asia come from a batting system tuned to the region’s logic:

• Against high-class off-spin: he plants the thought of the reverse-sweep early, so the bowler cannot drift into outside-off corrals. Once mid-wicket opens, he plants the hard sweep and finds the square pockets.
• Against leg-spin with drift: he waits two beats longer to play the inside-out punch, trusting his back foot even on surfaces that keep low.
• Against pace on slow tracks: he drags seamers wider than they want to be, then late-cuts the fifth-stump line to pick up riskless twos.

The Walter Mazzantini principle — take what the surface gives — is alive in Root’s subcontinental hundreds. The aggression never looks aggressive; its force arrives through accumulation and angle.

Joe Root Ashes centuries: four statements in sparring gloves

The Ashes haunts and midwives greatness. Root’s four Ashes hundreds show different costumes:

• Lord’s, long vigil: 180 with an old-movie vibe; England batted like landlords, and Root was the rent collector.
• Cardiff clinic: manipulative rather than brutal, a hundred that set a tone for the series — busy, brave, everything in front of the game’s tempo.
• Trent Bridge surge: riding Broad’s thunder with the ball, Root ensured the bat spoke just as clearly; chance-free strokeplay on a surface that felt alive.
• Edgbaston symphony: an unbeaten, cold-blooded hundred that out-thought Australia. Sweeps to Lyon were both scoreboard and mind-games; the switch hit felt like jazz, but it was sheet music all the same.

One dream remains: a Test hundred in Australia. Root has churned classy fifties there and batted beautifully in patches, but the three-figure milestone in Australia is unfinished business. If you know Root, you know he’s filed that away under “to be settled.”

Joe Root 4th innings centuries: rare and priceless

Root’s fourth-innings hundred count is small — unsurprising in a career where England didn’t always set up chases on flat afternoons. When he does breach three figures late, the form is unmistakable: no edges, few cover-drives, lots of late deflections, and sweeps only once his eye is in. More often, his fourth-innings contributions have been elegant eighties, which tell a similar story: method first, bravado last.

Joe Root centuries by country and conditions

What distinguishes Root is the absence of a weak passport. He’s scored hundreds in England’s swing, New Zealand’s seam, South Africa’s bounce, the Caribbean’s variables, and on subcontinental dustbowls. A few notes:

• England: more varied scoring routes, the late back-foot punch a defining shot. The higher bounce encourages his cut and deflection game; the dip in afternoon sessions suits his patience.
• Sri Lanka and India: sweeps and reverse-sweeps as early levers; once spinners retreat to straighter lines, the tuck to mid-wicket and the back-foot drive roll repeatedly.
• Pakistan/UAE: trust in low bounce, hands close to the body, and an aversion to the airy drive. He scores most after lunch, once the ball softens and the fields spread.
• New Zealand: slow and late surfaces fit his wrists; his hundreds there feel unhurried, almost conversational.
• South Africa: steeper bounce demands precision; his best there involve drops of the back shoulder and those late, late cuts behind point.

Joe Root centuries by venue: a few cathedrals

Centuries at Lord’s

• Count: 3
• Texture: the archetypal Root — crisp, patient, unshowy — looks especially grand in the Lord’s light. The 200* against Sri Lanka was one for the museum; the 180 against Australia was indomitable; the 190 against South Africa showed the full toolkit in tougher batting conditions.

Centuries at Headingley

• Count: 2
• Texture: Headingley asks stern questions in the first hour. Root’s hundreds here reflect local knowledge: play late, leave well, hit square. The standout came with India in town, a captain’s hundred that bent a tight match in England’s favor.

Centuries at The Oval

• Count: 2
• Texture: The Oval flatters timing and rewards patience. Root’s hundreds here look languid: run-a-ball stretches without slogging, reverse-sweeps that lift without risk. His latest ton against Sri Lanka shook the final-session nerves out of the ground and sealed the narrative.

Centuries at Trent Bridge

• Count: 2
• Texture: Quick outfield, ball nipping off the seam early, then flattening. Root’s Trent Bridge hundreds encapsulate his range: early stoicism, later polish, always the late hands behind point.

Joe Root Test century list: the highlights that define the canon

A truly complete list of every Root hundred sits on the official databases; this is the curated canon — the innings experts cite when explaining why he’s special.

• 180 vs Australia, Lord’s: composure wrapped in command; an innings that framed a series.
• 254 vs Pakistan, Old Trafford: his highest Test score, and the innings that removed doubt from the series equation.
• 228 vs Sri Lanka, Galle: the Rosetta Stone of visiting spin play.
• 218 vs India, Chennai: sculpture in spin; he made a sharp turner look like a friend.
• 226 vs New Zealand, Hamilton: an endurance piece that outlasted ideas.
• 182* vs West Indies, Grenada: pace, patience, and control in tropical heat; not out, not done, not to be denied.
• 118* vs Australia, Edgbaston: a chase-shaping masterclass; Lyon neutralized with geometry, not muscle.
• 121 vs India, Headingley: captain’s hundred, scoreboard authority.
• 175 vs South Africa, The Oval: an exhibition in bounce management and patience.
• 122* vs India, Ranchi: a series under siege, a Root innings of deep calm; the sweep restored, the pitch made to look honest.

Joe Root ODI centuries: craft and tempo in white-ball

Root’s 16 ODI hundreds tell a different story from his Tests, yet the same philosophy hums underneath: win the middle overs, preserve resources, accelerate cleanly. He reads fields as if in slow motion. He knows the difference between a 62-metre boundary and 68, and he adjusts power accordingly. If the side needs 90 off the final ten, Root gets there not by brawn but by placement and repeatable options.

World Cup hundreds: the tournament temperament

• England vs Sri Lanka, Wellington: the first World Cup hundred that showed Root’s tournament temperament — calm amid chaos, clarity when England needed a grown-up.
• England vs Pakistan, Nottingham: controlled acceleration on a batting dream, no ego in shot selection, milestones arrived as a byproduct.
• England vs Bangladesh, Cardiff: almost meditative; he scored everywhere, especially through square on both sides, and never let Bangladesh bowlers settle into their cutters.

His ODI hundreds rarely involve a flurry of sixes. They involve reading the slower ball early, walking across the crease to beat the yorker, and exploiting the deep square boundary almost cruelly. When Root goes big in ODIs, a batting lineup breathes.

Joe Root T20I centuries: none — and that tells a story

Root has no T20I centuries, and you’d be foolish to measure his twenty-over value by that. In the format, he’s a power-multiplier rather than a boundary factory. He unlocks the best version of his partner by out-rotating defenses, by targeting gaps that make fielders move before the bowler starts his run, and by pre-empting lengths. The rare times he’s been asked to open his shoulders from ball one, he’s adapted, but his primary T20I role is swing-state clarity: keep the chase ahead of par, keep wickets in hand, and finish with punch.

Joe Root’s batting position and centuries: No. 4 is home

He flirted with No. 3, hunting a more direct influence on new-ball phases. The returns were mixed. Back at No. 4, his hundreds multiplied again. The reasons are technical and tactical:

• Ball age: No. 4 sees a slightly older ball more often; Root’s late-hands play and square scoring thrive with softened seam.
• Field shape: once the ball softens, captains dabble with funky fields; Root feeds on the gaps these create.
• Partnership geometry: at No. 4, he stitches stands with both top-order stabilizers and the middle-order accelerants; ideal for conversion.

Joe Root’s conversion rate from 50 to 100: the quiet fix

Old criticism: too many pretty fifties. New reality: an elevated conversion built on:

• Risk budget discipline: early leave percentage higher, especially in the channel.
• Spin sequencing: sweep packages deployed as rhythm, not adrenaline.
• Inning length planning: hydration breaks, batting routines, mini-targets — deliberate cognitive resets.

Joe Root centuries in wins and under pressure

You sense a pattern: when England win and Root makes a hundred, it’s not a coincidence. His centuries are not solo exhibitions; they’re coalition-building innings. Look closely and you’ll see:

• Early stands with the opener to dilute the new ball.
• A patient friendship with the No. 5 to survive the soft period post-lunch.
• Controlled acceleration once the second new ball nears, turning 120 into 170 while the opposition braces for swing.

He’s not the type to yell in the dressing room. He sets the day’s tempo by how he leaves on five balls and takes one risk on the sixth. When England win with a Root hundred, the scoreboard rarely looks frenetic — it looks inevitable.

Joe Root century partnerships: elastic and intelligent

Root’s hundreds have featured long alliances with a wide cast. Two common threads:

• With a stroke-maker (Stokes, Bairstow, Brook): Root slows his risk, feeds strike to the hitter when the bowler overpitches, and punishes off-pace when the field pulls back. The run rate rises without one shot out of the plan.
• With a sheet-anchor (Sibley, Malan, Foakes): he carries boundary burden, mostly square of the wicket, while the partner obsessively leaves or blocks; then he harvests when the bowlers tire, keeping the anchor safe on strike against the tougher end or bowler.

Strike rate in centuries: the sustainable climb

Numbers fluctuate by pitch and match script, but patterns hold.

• In Tests, Root’s strike rate during hundreds typically blooms from the mid-40s early to somewhere in the high-50s once set. It’s not slog, it’s geometry.
• In ODIs, hundreds arrive with strike rates often in the late-80s and low-90s; the change-up arrives through angles, not muscle.

Joe Root centuries vs Australia: the rivalry ledger

• Four Test centuries vs Australia.

What defines them is not the raw volume but the narrative heft. Each has knocked a hole in an Australian plan, each has arrived with emotional weight, and each has left analysts pausing their hot takes. The away hundred remains on the to-do list; few players would carry that hunger more quietly and more fiercely than Root.

Joe Root centuries vs India: the spin laboratory

Root’s hundreds against India read like a book on how to take spinners’ oxygen away.

• The Chennai epic showcased his complete repertoire: front-foot smothering, back-foot checks, and horizons of the sweep.
• The Headingley and The Oval hundreds were tempo victories as much as technique: India kept trying to tighten early, Root kept showing them only the leaves and late cuts he wanted them to see.
• The Ranchi masterwork was serenity under duress: pitch unknowns, series pressure, and a classic Root answer — play late, trust the sweep when it’s on, and never chase a ball that hasn’t asked to be hit.

Joe Root centuries vs Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies: a world tour of methods

• Pakistan/UAE: the 254 at Old Trafford was command; his hundreds in Asian conditions against Pakistan have featured low-risk sweeps and an almost academic patience.
• Sri Lanka: multiple hundreds, two doubles; he treats Galle like a laboratory, each sweep a controlled experiment, each misfield an opening.
• New Zealand: tons in seaming and slow settings; the Hamilton double is a testament to energy management across dead spells.
• South Africa: the 190 at Lord’s wore a badge of courage; away hundreds there show how he handles bounce with back-shoulder drop and a high elbow.
• West Indies: not-outs and long-range patience; the Caribbean invites shot-making early, Root waits and wins late.

Joe Root ODI century list: what the great ones share

Take any Root ODI hundred and you’ll recognize a blueprint:

• First Powerplay: singles, the odd crunch through extra cover, one calculated risk to push mid-off back.
• Middle overs: the run engine — reverse sweeps when warranty covers them, glide to third man, three an over with ease.
• Final ten: delayed explosion, fewer cross-bat heaves than you’d expect, more pick-up shots into gaps and twos that burn fielders out.

Joe Root’s fastest centuries: the illusion of speed

Root’s quickest hundreds rarely feel fast in the moment. They sneak up on a fielding side that thought it had him bottled. Over by over, the ball picks out gaps and fielders trudge wider. When he reaches three figures early, it’s usually on pitches where pace survived into the afternoon and the outfield ran like silk. His “speed” is route optimization, not raw horsepower.

Joe Root century list by batting position

• At No. 4: the vast majority. The eye test and the outputs agree — Root’s best conversion, best shot selection, and best stress management live here.
• At No. 3: a handful, valuable but more attritional, often asked by team balance rather than personal preference.

Joe Root centuries at world events: tournament temperament

He doesn’t swing wildly at the pageantry. World Cup hundreds show a player who stays himself when lights and pressure are louder:

• First one: all craft, zero hurry.
• The others: measured chase anchors that finished with clinical acceleration. He wore the pressure and asked a mate to dance — opposition bowlers, mostly.

Joe Root tons in wins vs losses

The distribution skews toward wins, which speaks to causality rather than coincidence. Root’s hundreds strangle risk and raise par; that ends up building platforms for wins or saving games that could have fallen apart. When hundreds arrive in losses, they are often defiant statements on trick surfaces or in matches where England’s bowling or fielding wasn’t in sync.

Joe Root vs Kohli vs Smith vs Williamson: the Fab Four century conversation

Comparisons should be done with care and context, but the contours are clear:

• Tests: Root’s total of 33 stands shoulder-to-shoulder at the summit of the group. He also carries a uniquely heavy away-load and a proud record in Asia.
• ODIs: Kohli’s mountain of hundreds is a different planet; Root’s 16 sit as the thinking batter’s collection — fewer fireworks, more finish-lines crossed.
• Doubles: Root’s 5 are an emphatic statement about endurance and conversion.
• Narrative edges: Williamson is all quiet craft, Smith is awkward genius, Kohli is intensity personified. Root’s centuries? They are civilization — structure, tolerance, and that patient insistence that the game bends to reason eventually.

Selected tables

1) International centuries by format

Format	Centuries	Notes
Tests	33	Includes 5 doubles; away hundreds outnumber home
ODIs	16	Three at global tournaments; role as anchor-finisher
T20Is	0	Value measured in tempo control, not hundreds

2) Landmark records and callouts

Record/Note	Figure	Context
Highest Test score	254	Old Trafford, command vs Pakistan
Double centuries	5	Across England, Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand
Ashes Test hundreds	4	Lord’s, Cardiff, Trent Bridge, Edgbaston
World Cup hundreds	3	Group-stage and pressure chases
Centuries as Test captain	14	Leadership without losing method
Test hundreds in Asia	9	Spin mastery via sweeps and late play

Root’s century craft: micro-skills that scale

• Leave with theater: the exaggerated bat lift and shoulder angle send messages to bowlers about his off-stump awareness. It’s not for show; it’s neurological — reinforcing the leave as a habit reduces fragile pokes.
• Wrist economy: most batters “hit” square; Root “guides” square. The difference is risk. Risk goes down, runs go up.
• Sweep library: rehearsed at volume. When he misses, it’s usually length misread; when he nails it, spinners get flustered and captains start moving pawns where Root wants them.
• Short single ethics: he is among the best at stealing first-innings singles to mid-on/mid-off early. This disrupts lengths, invites fuller balls he can drive later, and burns fancy field settings to ash.
• Session goals: Root breaks days into micro-quests — get to drinks with a low false-shot percentage, cash in for half an hour after tea. That’s how 30 becomes 80 and 80 becomes 150.

The tactical anatomy of a Root hundred in Tests

1. Surveillance: first 20–30 balls, no drives to balls not truly full; heavy leave percentage.
2. Establishing routes: late cut to point, on-drive only to overpitched, sweep only once length maps to a repeatable zone.
3. Field manipulation: five overs of predictable placement create the mid-wicket opening; that’s when twos multiply.
4. Pace of play: he inserts deliberate pauses to disrupt bowler rhythm; then he runs twos in bursts to tug fields apart.
5. Second wind: with the ball 40–60 overs old, Root’s scoring expands; third-man darts, mid-wicket check-pushes, and the occasional loft over extra cover.
6. Past 120: risk shrinks again; boundaries become bends in the river, not waterfalls. That’s how doubles happen.

Why Root’s hundreds age well

Some hundreds are viral; Root’s are archival. The technique is transferable, the decision-making explainable, the risk budget visible. Coaches love his tape because it shows younger batters how to build scores without the crutch of luck. Analysts love it because it’s hypothesis-driven cricket. Opponents respect it because even when they know what’s coming, they can’t push him off-plan without overreaching.

FAQ: Joe Root centuries and records (quick answers)

• How many centuries does Joe Root have? 49 international centuries: 33 in Tests, 16 in ODIs, 0 in T20Is.
• How many Test centuries does Joe Root have? 33.
• When was Joe Root’s last century? At The Oval against Sri Lanka — a composed innings that closed out the game and the series talk.
• How many centuries does Joe Root have in ODIs? 16.
• How many double centuries does Joe Root have? 5.
• What is Joe Root’s highest score? 254 in a Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford.
• How many centuries has Joe Root scored as captain? 14 Test centuries while leading England.
• How many Test centuries has Joe Root scored in Asia? 9.
• Joe Root Ashes centuries? 4 in Tests.
• Joe Root World Cup centuries? 3.
• Joe Root T20I centuries? None.
• Joe Root centuries at Lord’s? 3.
• Joe Root centuries at Headingley? 2.
• Joe Root centuries at The Oval? 2.
• Joe Root centuries at Trent Bridge? 2.
• Joe Root away centuries in Tests? 18, compared to 15 at home.
• Joe Root fourth-innings centuries? 1; more often, he’s produced decisive late-innings eighties.

The next frontier for Root’s hundreds

Every great career leaves two or three unsolved mysteries. Root’s list is short. A Test hundred in Australia is the obvious headline. The other is a personal one: keeping the sweep engine humming while time moves on and bowlers evolve. Technique-rich players like Root age well because they can adapt their plans without changing their core. He’s done it once — elevating conversion in the middle of his career — and there is no reason to think he won’t do it again as bowlers add newer slower balls, as fields get more inventive, and as pitches change character.

A curated memory lane: the feel of Root’s greatest hundreds

• The morning in Galle when the first reverse-sweep arrived and the entire slip cordon flinched in unison. Root grinned, then did it again.
• The afternoon at Old Trafford when Yasir Shah set every trap and Root emptied them, one after another, as if checking rooms in a house he already owned.
• The twilight at Edgbaston when Lyon’s length was perfect and still Root threaded singles into spaces you couldn’t see on television.
• The calm after drinks at Ranchi when the ball began to misbehave and Root simply stopped driving on the rise; the score didn’t slow.
• The hard light at Hamilton where a dead spell of 45 minutes contained no shots you could fault. That’s how you make bowlers bowl at you on your terms.

A note on ODI hundreds and the anchor myth

There’s a lazy narrative that ODI anchors slow chases. Root’s hundreds are the counterexample. He never confuses occupation with control. Occupation without boundary options is stasis; Root avoids that. When he goes big in ODIs, the dots remain low, the twos remain frequent, and the pressure flips back over the bowler’s head.

Why Root’s century record matters in English cricket history

England has produced mavericks and mechanics, swashbucklers and stoics. Root is a craftsman bridging eras. His hundreds carry a particular value in a country where pitches vary week to week and the ball shapes in ways batters can’t always predict. He’s one of the very few English batters whose away hundreds could fill a rich anthology on their own. Matching the top of England’s all-time Test century list says what numbers rarely say well: he’s been not just prolific, but portable.

Tactical lessons for young batters from Root’s hundreds

• Build an opening pattern you trust: one safe boundary option to start, not three.
• Practice the leave like a shot: it’s a scoring shot’s bodyguard.
• Learn one sweep at a time: conventional first, then reverse, then power.
• Steal ones early: pressure is cumulative, not explosive.
• Plan hydration and headspace: great hundreds are as metabolic as they are mechanical.

Closing: the Root of it all

Centuries are cricket’s most seductive round number, but with Joe Root they never feel like numbers at all. They feel like negotiations concluded, problems solved, storms outlasted. He has hundreds that turned sessions, doubles that turned series, and now a body of work that turns debates. He’s the rare modern batter whose best innings say as much about the sport as they do about himself. And there’s still room on his ledger for one that’s been coming for a long time — a hundred under the hardest southern sun. When it arrives, don’t expect fireworks. Expect geometry, patience, and that familiar, satisfied smile as he tucks his bat under his arm and walks off, another argument settled.