Joe Root goes past Brian Lara, becomes 7th batter to complete 12000 Test runs after England reduced to 55/5 vs WI

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Joe Root, who smashed his 32nd Test hundred last week, showed class once again after England were reduced to 55/5 in their first innings. West Indies showed character and fought back after ending their first innings at 282.

The 33-year-old went past Brian Lara in the list of batters to score most runs in Test cricket. Root surpassed Lara's tally of 11953 Test runs, and later became only the seventh batter in the history of the game to complete 12000 Test runs. He reached to the milestone with a four off Alzarri Joseph in the first over after lunch on Day 2.

Test batters with more than 12000 runs

• Sachin Tendulkar
• Ricky Ponting
• Jacques Kallis
• Rahul Dravid
• Alastair Cook
• Kumar Sangakkara
• Joe Root

England lost three wickets in the last eight overs of Day 1 as Jayden Seales sent back opener Zak Crawley (18) and nightwatchman Mark Wood (0) back in the pavilion. Alzarri Joseph clean bowled Ben Duckett (3) on the first ball of the fifth over.

West Indies again struck on the 17th ball of the Day 2 after Shamar Joseph cleaned the stumps of Ollie Pope (10). Harry Brook was then dismissed five deliveries later by Jayden Seales.

Before any further damage could be caused by the West Indies pacer, captain Ben Stokes walked in the middle and joined forces with former team captain Joe Root to bring the England innings back on track.

The two experienced campaigners understood the criticality of the situation to show caution and take England past 100 without any further loss of wicket. Root, the number two ranked Test batter in the world, brought up his 63rd Test fifty and forged a century partnership with Stokes, who strongly held one end.

The 115-run partnership off 142 balls came to an end after Stokes was dismissed by Alzarri Joseph for 54 off 69 after the lunch break.

Notably, England took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series after registering a 241-run win in the second Test match in Nottingham. The Three Lions are eyeing a clean sweep over Kraig Brathwaite-led West Indies team.

Gus Atkinson shined again for England, taking four wickets in the first innings. West Indies were reduced to 115/5 before Jason Holder (59) and Joshua Da Silva (49) partnered for 109 runs and helped the vistors scored 282.