Joe Root Breaks England Record And Joins Elusive List For Twin Centuries at Lord's With 34th Test Hundred

England's golden boy Joe Root on Saturday (August 31) created a record and joined elite company with a 34th Test hundred during the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's in London.

The veteran batter surpassed legendary Alastair Cook to register the most centuries by an English batter in the longest format after he scored 103 runs in just 121 balls, with 10 boundaries. His runs came at a strike rate of 85.12.

With his 34th Test century, Root has now surpassed Cook's tally of 33 centuries and is now the most successful England batter in terms of centuries in the longest format. Here is a look at the players with most Test hundreds for England:

Most Test Hundreds For England

Joe Root - 34 centuries in 265 innings
Alastair Cook - 33 centuries in 291 innings
Kevin Pietersen - 23 centuries in 181 innings
Wally Hammond - 22 centuries in 140 innings
Colin Cowdrey - 22 centuries in 188 innings
Geoff Boycott - 22 centuries in 193 innings
Ian Bell - 22 centuries in 205 innings

With 34 Test tons, Root went level with four greats of the game - Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Younis Khan and Mahela Jayawardene. He is only behind Rahul Dravid (36), Kumar Sangakkara (38), Ricky Ponting (41), Jacques Kallis (45) and Sachin Tendulkar (51) for most hundreds in Test cricket.

This is also Root's 50th international century, making him the ninth player to do so. Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar has scored 100 international tons, the most by any player.

Root joins the elite company of legends like Virat Kohli (80), Ricky Ponting (71), Kumar Sangakkara (63), Jacques Kallis (62), Hashim Amla (55), Mahela Jayawardene (54) and Brian Lara (53).

Among the currently active players, Root is only the second player besides Virat to have 50 international centuries. At number three is Indian skipper Rohit Sharma (48). As for the active players with most Test hundreds, Root leads the list.

Root tops the list with 34 tons followed by New Zealand's Kane Williamson (32), Australia's Steve Smith (32) and India's Virat Kohli (29) for most Test centuries by active cricketers.

The England star batter also joined an elusive list for players with hundreds in both innings of a Lord's Test. With 143 and 103 against Sri Lanka, Root joined three other English batters to the feat.

George Headley scored 106 and 107 for West Indies against England in 1939, Graham Gooch did it against India in 1990, Michael Vaughan against West Indies in 2004, and now Root against Sri Lanka.

After his century set a target of over 400 for Sri Lanka to chase in the fourth innings, Root achieved another record on the field. Root took his 200th catch in Test cricket, becoming joint third with South Africa great Jacques Kallis and only five behind second-placed Mahela Jayawardene and ten behind the leader Rahul Dravid.