Ashes: Joe Root created history, became the world’s first captain to do so
Reflexes
- Joe Root scored 50 runs in the first innings, bringing the total number of runs in the year 2021 to 1680.
- Root beat South Africa’s Graeme Smith record (1,656 races in 2008).
Melbourne. The third Ash Test between Australia and England began on December 26 in which England captain Joe Root scored half a century. With the help of this half century, Root became the captain with the highest race scorer in a calendar year. Root scored 50 runs in the first innings, bringing the total number of runs in 2021 to 1,680 and became the captain with the highest run-scorer in a calendar year.
Root beat South Africa’s Graeme Smith record (1,656 races in 2008). Australia’s Michael Clarke (1,595 races in 2012) is third on this list. If Root makes 109 runs in England’s second inning, he will become the top scorer for runs in a calendar year.
This record is currently held by Mohammad Yusuf of Pakistan, who scored 1,788 runs in 2006. Root currently ranks third on this list behind Joseph and Vivian Richards of the West Indies (1710 in 1976). Smith has now slipped to fourth on this list.
Top scorer of races on foreign soil in a calendar year
1212 – Graeme Smith in 2008
1138 – Virat Kohli in 2018
1019 * – Joe Route in 2021
1018 – Bob Simpson in 1964
895 – Gary Sobers in 1966
,
