‘Genius’ Joe Root is England’s greatest – Sir Alastair Cook

Root made his 34th Test century, breaking Cook’s England record, in the second Test against Sri Lanka.

Joe Root celebrates his century during day three of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s

Joe Root was hailed as “England’s greatest” by Sir Alastair Cook after the Yorkshireman broke his national record for the most Test centuries.

Root joined Cook on 33 hundreds against Sri Lanka at Lord’s this week but is now out in front as, for the first time in his glittering 145-Test career, he registered a three-figure score in both innings.

His 34th Test ton puts him joint sixth on the all-time list alongside Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Younis Khan and Mahela Jayawardene, and Cook has no doubt about Root’s standing in the game.

Sir Alastair Cook on media duty during the First Test against Sri Lanka — Sir Alastair Cook hailed Joe Root as ‘England’s greatest’ (Nick Potts/PA)

Commentating on Root reaching the milestone for the BBC’s Test Match Special, Cook said: “Quite simply, he is England’s greatest. It is absolutely right that he has this record to himself.

“Take it in, Joe, we are watching you and you are a genius. There is a sense of inevitability around Joe Root when he bats, a sense that he is always going to score runs.

“It’s such a pleasure to see a master craftsman at work like this.”

Root now has another Cook England benchmark within his sights after closing to within 95 runs of his former team-mate’s career haul of 12,472.

Only five other batters have made more Test tons than Root, currently the top-ranked batter in the format.

Kumar Sangakkara is one of them, having amassed 38 hundreds in his glittering career, and the former Sri Lanka captain was another to pay tribute to Root.

Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara working for Sky Sports — Kumar Sangakkara hailed Joe Root’s ‘incredible run-scoring ability’ (Nick Potts/PA)

“It’s incredible,” Sangakkara told Sky Sports. “Joe Root has been a Test batter to follow and to watch.

“He has an incredible run-scoring ability, incredible focus and once again you don’t really feel how fast he scores runs and rotates strike and how quickly he gets to these hundreds.

“I think he will be happy but I think the happiest he will be is about how he is batting so well and clearly.

“There’s not much thinking. There’s nothing that is frantic, the tempo of his innings is like he on autopilot. There’s a feeling of being in complete control in any conditions against the attack.

“That is what will be really satisfying to him.”