Joe Root Overtakes Ricky Ponting as Highest Run-Scorer in Home Tests

Joe Root has become the highest run-scorer in Test cricket on home soil, overtaking Ricky Ponting's long-standing record during the second Test against Pakistan at Lord's, despite managing just 24 in the innings.

Root now has 7,594 runs in home Tests for England, moving past Ponting's mark of 7,578 runs, which the Australian great compiled across 92 Tests on home soil in Australia. The milestone comes in fewer matches than Ponting needed, with Root reaching the tally in 87 home Tests, underlining the remarkable consistency he has shown throughout his career at English venues.

Sachin Tendulkar sits third on the all-time list with 7,216 runs in home Tests for India, with Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene and South Africa's Jacques Kallis rounding out the top five. Root reached this new landmark needing just 79 runs coming into the series against Pakistan, having entered the campaign at Headingley with 7,500 home runs already banked, and duly crossed the mark during the tour.

The achievement adds to an extraordinary year of milestones for the England captain, who earlier this year also became the second-highest run-scorer in Test history overall, moving past Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ponting on the same day during a century against India at Old Trafford, leaving only Tendulkar's all-time record of 15,921 runs ahead of him.

Root's form with the bat has been a matter of some scrutiny of late, but the numbers continue to tell their own story. Now the outright leading run-scorer in home Tests in the format's history, Root adds yet another significant chapter to a Test career already regarded as one of the greatest of the modern era, with England looking to build on their series lead over Pakistan at Lord's.