Joe Root hits England-record 34th test century as hosts close in on series victory over Sri Lanka
London, Aug 31: Joe Root chalked up a record 34th test century for England as the hosts raced closer to a series victory over Sri Lanka in the second test at Lord's on Saturday.
Root equaled Alastair Cook's England record on Thursday and surpassed it after registering a century in both innings.
His latest ton, his seventh at Lord's, was his fastest ever off 111 deliveries before he holed out for 103, the backbone of England's 251 which left Sri Lanka needing a world-record 483 to win.
Sri Lanka was left with seven sessions to either chase down the mammoth total or bat for a draw to tee up a decider at the Oval next week. It closed on 53-2 as bad light ended play early.
Only five other players in history have more hundreds than Root, whose father was in the crowd to watch him move alongside Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Younis Khan and Mahela Jayawardene on the all-time list. Root is within 95 runs of Cook's England benchmark 12,472 in tests.
It was another forgettable day for Ollie Pope, though.
While he reached double figures for the first time in four innings as the stand-in England captain, Pope was out for 17 to an ugly premeditated hack attempting to meet Sri Lanka's short-ball ploy head-on.
Ben Duckett departed for 24, caught on the rebound by Angelo Mathews from Nishan Madushka's parry, and Pope walked into Asitha Fernando's bumper trap. Attempting to offset Sri Lanka's heavy leg-side field, Pope stepped back and across but picked out the lone off-side boundary rider at deep backward point.
Harry Brook was dropped on 9 and made 37 before holing out off Prabath Jayasuriya, who had Jamie Smith lbw for 26 after he missed a sweep.
Root moved unobtrusively to his sixth fifty-plus score in eight innings this summer, celebrating with a trademark late cut for four off Milan Rathnayake, while showing little discomfort against Jayasuriya.
Chris Woakes chipped to extra cover while Gus Atkinson, full of confidence after his maiden first-class century a day earlier, sliced an unconventional reverse pull to Rathnayake on the third boundary.
While England's lead climbed past 450, there was no danger of a declaration as Root went past Graham Gooch's Lord's record of 2,015 test runs after getting to within four of his landmark hundred.
After keeping the crowd waiting with 16 deliveries in the 90s amid a short-ball barrage from Fernando, Root carved through vacant cover point for four to reach the milestone.
He was last man out when he shoveled to deep square leg but then recorded his 199th and 200th test catches after an early tea when Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka edged to first slip off Atkinson and Olly Stone, respectively.
With light fading, the teams left the field shortly after 5 p.m. local time and play was called off an hour later. Dimuth Karunaratne ended the day on 23 not out with nightwatcher Jayasuriya on 3.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 moment.
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 31, 2024
Joe Root goes above Sir Alastair Cook to score the most Test hundreds for England 🐐 pic.twitter.com/cD5aCXl1Id
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Andhra to be developed as knowledge, creator economy hub: CM Naidu
New Delhi/Amaravati (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said the state is taking steps to transform itself into a knowledge and creator economy hub with a strong focus on artificial intelligence and quantum technology.
He noted that Andhra Pradesh has abundant tech-driven youth and the government is formulating plans to train them in futuristic technologies with support from global technology firms.
"Our goal is to transform Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub by focusing on AI, quantum computing, data centres, drone cities and space cities. The youth will remain our biggest asset over the next 25 years, and we seek global partnerships to scale up the creator economy," said Naidu during his interactions at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi.
Naidu, who participated in the summit in the national capital, also held meetings with several global technology leaders and industrialists to explore collaborations in artificial intelligence, clean energy and innovation ecosystems.
He met Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Autodesk AI Head Mike Haley, Aramco India Director Abdul Rehman AiThukair, LEGO Education Vice President Tom Hall, Aadhaar Founder and CTO Srikanth Nadhamuni, Khosla Ventures Managing Partner Vinod Khosla and others at the AP Pavilion.
The chief minister also held discussions with Saudi Aramco representatives on clean energy projects, including solar initiatives, and invited the company to expand operations in Andhra Pradesh, stating that the state is highly suitable for green energy production.
He sought support from NVIDIA Vice President Callista Redmond for establishing AI Living Labs and proposed partnerships through the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub to promote youth innovation, including collaborations with IIT Tirupati and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati under the Andhra Pradesh Future Innovation and Research for Science and Technology (AP FIRST) initiative.
Naidu urged Autodesk leadership to support the development of Global Capability Centres in design engineering and requested the establishment of an Innovation Academy in Amaravati aligned with quantum technology, besides proposing AI and robotics learning labs in partnership with LEGO Education.
He also discussed AI-driven smart governance solutions with Quantela Inc Chairman Sridhar Gadhi, while World Bank Group Digital AI Regional Director Mahesh Uttamchandani met Naidu on the sidelines of the summit.
Following the meetings, Naidu visited various exhibition stalls at the summit, including those of NVIDIA, Tata, Intel and Microsoft, and reviewed AI applications across agriculture, healthcare and industry.
