Most Test runs race gets hotter: Joe Root equals Ricky Ponting’s 41 Test tons, inches closer to Sachin Tendulkar's record

England’s batting pillar Joe Root hit his second century of the Ashes series on Monday, matching Australian legend Ricky Ponting’s tally of 41 Test hundreds. The milestone came during the fifth and final Test against Australia in Sydney, keeping the spotlight firmly on the race for the most Test runs in cricket history. Root reached the landmark with a couple off Michael Neser, finishing a calm and controlled innings that again rescued England.

Joe Root is closing in on the most Test runs mark

Already second on the all-time list for most Test runs, Root now trails only India great Sachin Tendulkar. He is roughly 2,000 runs short of Tendulkar’s record, a gap that suddenly feels bridgeable given his current form. Root has scored 41 centuries and 66 half-centuries in 163 Tests. Tendulkar finished with 51 centuries and 68 half-centuries from 200 matches, setting the benchmark for both longevity and volume of runs in Test cricket.

Where Joe Root stands among the greats

Root’s latest hundred puts him level with Ponting on the all-time list of Test centuries. Only Tendulkar and South Africa’s Jacques Kallis remain ahead.


The 35-year-old looked unhurried through his score of 150+. This was his second century of the series and his first with the red ball, after an unbeaten 138 in the day-night Test in Brisbane. That Brisbane hundred had ended a long drought in Australia for Root, who had gone three previous Ashes tours without a century Down Under.

Root’s appetite for big scores also shows up in his 150-plus tally.

Most 150-plus scores in Tests

• 20 – Sachin Tendulkar
• 19 – Brian Lara
• 19 – Kumar Sangakkara
• 18 – Don Bradman
• 17 – Joe Root

Most Test hundreds

• 51 – Sachin Tendulkar
• 45 – Jacques Kallis
• 41 – Ricky Ponting
• 41 – Joe Root
• 38 – Kumar Sangakkara

Rare away Ashes feat for England

Root has also joined a small club of England batters with multiple hundreds in an away Ashes series since the mid-1990s.

Multiple hundreds in an away Ashes series for England since 1994/95

• 3 – Michael Vaughan (2002/03)
• 3 – Alastair Cook (2010/11)
• 2 – Jonathan Trott (2010/11)
• 2 – Joe Root (2025/26)

Since 2021, no one has piled on Test hundreds like Root, reinforcing his reputation as the most consistent accumulator of runs in the current era.

Most Test hundreds since 2021

• 24 – Joe Root
• 10 – Steven Smith
• 10 – Kane Williamson
• 10 – Harry Brook
• 10 – Shubman Gill

With time still on his side and runs flowing freely, Joe Root’s chase of the record for the most Test runs is no longer a distant talking point. It is fast becoming the main story of modern Test cricket.