Joe Root passes Sachin Tendulkar's record for most Test fifties as England win 3-0

Joe Root moved past Sachin Tendulkar's mark of 68 half-centuries in Test cricket with an unbeaten 62 at Edgbaston, where England beat Pakistan by eight wickets to complete a 3-0 series win

The record arrived in the fourth innings of the third Test on 12 September, in a chase England were never likely to lose. Set 130, they got there for the loss of two wickets, Root unbeaten on 62 with nine fours and Jordan Cox alongside him on 59.

It was Root's 69th fifty in Test cricket, one clear of Tendulkar, whose 68 had stood at the top of the list for more than a decade.

The win completed a whitewash of Pakistan in Root's first series back as England's Test captain, following victories at Headingley and Lord's.

A record closed out in a short chase

England needed 130 on the fourth day and lost two wickets getting there, reaching 130 for 2 without any real alarm.

Root was at the crease when the target was passed, having gone to his fifty with the sort of low-risk accumulation that has defined his second decade in the side. His nine fours came almost entirely off the straight bat.

Cox, unbeaten on 59, was the other batter not out at the finish, and the pair were together when the winning runs came.

The margin of eight wickets understated how little Pakistan had left to bowl at by then.

Clear of Tendulkar at the head of the list

Root's 69 fifties put him above Tendulkar's 68, a record that had survived every challenger since the India batter's retirement.

The order behind them now reads Shivnarine Chanderpaul on 66, Rahul Dravid and Allan Border on 63 each, and Ricky Ponting on 62.

The list counts scores of 50 or more that did not become hundreds, so it rewards consistency over the length of a career rather than weight of runs alone.

Root, at 35, remains England's first-choice number four and their all-time leading Test run-scorer.

A thousand runs at a fourth ground

The same innings made Root the first batter to pass 1,000 Test runs at Edgbaston.

It is the fourth ground at which he has reached four figures, after Lord's, where he has 2,203 runs, Manchester with 1,128 and The Oval with 1,050.

Only Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting had previously scored 1,000 Test runs at four separate venues.

Three of Root's four are English grounds, a reflection of how much of his cricket has been played at home.

Pakistan's second innings sets up the finish

Pakistan had made a contest of the Test, replying to England's first innings of 453 with 449 second time round.

Shan Masood fell five short of a hundred on 95, and the debutant Razaullah made 81, an innings built on sixes that briefly threatened to put the match beyond England.

It left a target of only 130, and Pakistan finished the series without a win in three Tests.

A first series back in charge

Root was reappointed England's Test captain on 30 July, after Ben Stokes retired from international cricket. "It is a great honour and privilege to be asked to be England men's test captain again," he said at the time.

It is his second stint in the job. He led England in 64 Tests between 2017 and 2022, winning 27 of them, before standing down.

England named Stephen Fleming as Test head coach in the same announcement, replacing Brendon McCullum in the role. Fleming takes charge after the Pakistan series, with assistant coach Marcus Trescothick standing in until then.

The three Tests against Pakistan were Root's first assignment back, and they ended 3-0.

Root is England's leading Test run-scorer and now holds the format's record for half-centuries as well.

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