LONDON: Joe Root set an England record of 34 Test centuries when he reached three figures for the second time in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s.
Root, who made 143 in the first innings to move level with the previous England record of 33 hundreds held by the retired Alastair Cook, went to a century on Saturday’s third day when he cut Lahiru Kumara for the 10th four off 111 balls faced.
It meant Root surpassed his fellow former England captain’s mark. It is Root’s 145th Test compared to Cook’s career tally of 161 matches.
He was last man out for 103 in England’s second-innings total of 251 on the third day. Sri Lanka faced a mammoth target of 483 to level this three-match series at 1-1.
Root’s seventh Test hundred at Lord’s also gave him sole possession of the record for the most Test centuries at the ‘Home of Cricket’ he had shared with the England duo of Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan, who both managed six apiece.
Root also became the fourth batsman to have scored hundreds in both innings of a Test at Lord’s, joining the West Indies’ George Headley (1939), Gooch (1990) and Vaughan (2004).
Gooch’s combined tally of 456 runs against India at Lord’s in 1990, comprising innings of 333 and 123, remains a record for the most runs scored by a single batsman in any Test.
Root’s latest century also moved him into joint-sixth place in an all-time list of Test century-makers headed by India great Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 51 hundreds in 200 Tests from 1989-2013.
The 33-year-old Root is the only batsman in this group who is still an active Test cricketer.
Most Test hundreds (number of hundreds, matches, player, team (s), span):
51 200 Sachin Tendulkar IND 1989-2013
45 166 Jacques Kallis RSA 1995-2013
41 168 Ricky Ponting AUS 1995-2012
38 134 Kumar Sangakkara SRI 2000-2015
36 164 Rahul Dravid IND/ICC 1996-2012
34 118 Younis Khan PAK 2000-2017
34 125 Sunil Gavaskar IND 1971-1987
34 131 Brian Lara WIS/ICC 1990-2006
34 149 Mahela Jayawardene SRI 1997-2014
34 145 Joe Root ENG 2012 -
33 161 Alastair Cook ENG 2006-2018
Joe Root sets new England record of 34 Test hundreds
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Joe Root sets new England record of 34 Test hundreds
- Root made 143 in the first innings to level the previous England record of 33 hundreds held by the retired Alastair Cook
- He went to a century on Saturday’s third day against Sri Lanka when he cut Lahiru Kumara for the 10th four off 111 balls
Real Madrid face Man City, PSG draw Chelsea in Champions League last 16
- This is the eighth season in which the teams have played each other since 2012
- Liverpool will have a last-16 rematch against Galatasaray
PARIS: Real Madrid and Manchester City will face off in a Champions League knockout tie for the fifth season running after being drawn Friday to play each other in the last 16, while reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain will take on Chelsea.
The Spanish giants, record 15-time European champions, will host City in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu next month before traveling to England for the return the following week.
The clubs have already played each other this season, with Pep Guardiola’s City winning 2-1 in Madrid in December during the league phase, in which the Premier League club finished eighth and Real ninth.
That allowed City, Champions League winners in 2023, to advance straight to the last 16 while Madrid had to come through the knockout phase play-offs, in which they beat Benfica 3-1 on aggregate.
This is the eighth season in which the teams have played each other since 2012. Real beat City in the knockout phase play-offs last season, and in the quarterfinals on the way to winning the trophy in 2024. They also emerged victorious in the semifinals in 2022 with City winning at the same stage the following year.
PSG will be at home to Chelsea in the first leg after qualifying for this stage with a 5-4 aggregate win over Ligue 1 rivals Monaco in the play-offs. Chelsea progressed straight to the last 16 after finishing sixth in the league phase.
The sides played each other in the knockout stages in three consecutive years from 2014 to 2016, with Chelsea winning the first of those confrontations in the quarterfinals and PSG triumphing in the last 16 in the following two.
Their last encounter came in July’s Club World Cup final in the United States, when Chelsea won 3-0 against last season’s European champions.
“The draw is fascinating, as usual,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique. “It will be fascinating to play against one of the best English teams, who we know well, but it will not be about revenge. These are two different competitions.”
Chelsea have been coached since January by Liam Rosenior, who had previously come up against PSG in Ligue 1 as coach of Strasbourg.
- Arsenal face Leverkusen, Newcastle play Barcelona -
There is a record total of six English clubs in the last 16. None will play each other in the last 16 but there are two potential all-English quarterfinals.
Liverpool will have a last-16 rematch against Galatasaray, the Turkish giants having defeated the Anfield club 1-0 in September in the league phase.
The winner of that tie will play either PSG or Chelsea in the quarterfinals, meaning there is a chance Liverpool will get the opportunity to avenge their defeat by the Parisians on penalties a year ago.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United will take on Barcelona with the first leg at St. James’ Park — the Spanish side won 2-1 there during the league phase in September.
Barcelona’s only other possible opponents were holders PSG, but their coach Hansi Flick insisted: “We are not celebrating not getting PSG. We must respect our opponents. Everyone wants to reach the final and Newcastle will also be eager to win the Champions League.”
Tottenham Hotspur were drawn to play Atletico Madrid, with the winners of that tie then facing Newcastle or Barcelona in the last eight.
Arsenal, who finished first in the league phase, will come up against Bayer Leverkusen and if they win that would then be huge favorites in a quarter-final against Bodo/Glimt or Sporting of Portugal.
The last-16 meeting with Sporting is the Norwegian upstarts’ reward for knocking out last season’s beaten finalists Inter Milan in the play-offs.
Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes described Arsenal as “perhaps the top favorite for the title in both the Champions League and the Premier League. Everything has to go right, but then we’re capable of making life difficult for them.”
German champions Bayern Munich will play Atalanta, the sole Italian club left in the competition.
The first legs will take place on March 10 and 11, with the second legs a week later. The teams who qualified directly for this stage after finishing in the top eight in the league phase will all be at home in the return matches.
This season’s Champions League final will take place at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on May 30.
