Joe Root chopped off Daryl Mitchell for a thick under-edge past the stumps and the ball raced to the boundary. With a little bit of luck, the former England skipper reached his 27th Test ton off 116 balls. England were 473/5 at stumps on day 3 of the second Test, of the three-match series, against New Zealand at the  Trent Bridge, Nottingham. 

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Root was batting at 163 runs off 200 balls with the help of 25 boundaries at stumps. With the ton, his second of the series, the 31-year-old’s tally is equal to the likes of Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. While the former India skipper has not scored a hundred since November 2019, the Aussie is yet to get to a three-figure score in red-ball cricket since January 2021. 

Meanwhile, Joe Root has scored 10 centuries since the start of 2021. He has 27 centuries and 53 half-centuries in the format. He upstaged his 118-ball ton against Australia in 2015 in a home Ashes Test and scored his fastest hundred. 

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In doing so, the former English captain surpassed India legend Sunil Gavaskar’s run tally in Test cricket. The 1983 World Cup winner has 10,112 runs in the longest format. Root is currently the  12th highest run-getter in the history of Tests. 

England added 383 runs to their first innings total on Day 3. Ollie Pope made 145 runs in 239 balls and skipper. 

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Alex Lees (67) and Ben Stokes (46) chipped in with significant knocks and Ben Foakes was with Root on 24 not out at the close, with England trailing by 80. 

New Zealand’s swing bowler Trent Boult struck thrice as Matt Henry got one wicket. 

England leads the three-match series 1-0 after a five-wicket win in the first test at Lord’s last week.