Joe Root continued his record-chasing run-scoring in the first Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, where he set the bar for a new Test record by becoming the highest ever scorer across fourth innings in a player’s career, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s record during his brisk 22 which helped England claim a win in the series opener by eight wickets.

Root, considered as one of the likelier batters in world cricket to haul down Tendulkar’s overall scoring record in red ball cricket, continued to make records tumble in the long format of the game. Although he didn’t register too many runs at the Hagley Oval, he does now hold the distinction for most runs scored by any batter in the history of the sport while chasing a target in the format.

Root crossed Tendulkar’s mark of 1625 runs in the fourth innings, with the numbers for this particular innings paling in comparison to the rest but still showing a remarkable record for the English batter. He also surpassed Alastair Cook within the same innings, with the former English captain having ended his career just 14 runs short of Tendulkar on 1611 runs. Root currently stands at 1630 runs scored in fourth innings of Test matches.

The rest of the top five is filled out by Graeme Smith, tied with his southpaw captain counterpart Cook on 1611, and finally another southpaw in West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who scored 1580 fourth innings runs for the Windies.

Root helps ENG close out 104-run chase

England wrapped up a comfortable win over New Zealand with Joe Root’s innings as the cherry on top, successfully taking a 1-0 lead thanks to a century from Harry Brook, who continues to impress, as well as a ten-wicket performance from Brydon Carse, who became the first English bowler to register a 10-fer overseas since 2008.

Root overtook Cook’s record of most Test runs for England earlier this year, continuing his terrific turn of form over the last few years, and entered the top five highest Test scorers in history as well. However, he still remains over 3000 runs off the mark set by Sachin Tendulkar, but is a solid candidate to overtake the Indian batter in a matter of years if he continues his pace.

The teams now head to Basin Reserve in Wellington for the second match of their three-Test series, with host Kiwis trying to keep their WTC finals aspirations alive with a victory in the series to back up their triumph on Indian shores earlier this month.

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