England's youngest at Lord's

Stats highlights from Lord's

Shiva Jayaraman

21-Jul-2013

Joe Root completes his first Ashes hundred, England v Australia, 2nd Investec Test, Lord's, 3rd day, July 20, 2013

This was England's 50th win at Lord's. Seven of them have come against Australia. England have now drawn level with Australia in terms of Ashes wins in England, both teams now having won 46 Tests.

This was England's fourth Ashes Test win in a row. There have been only five such winning streaks (four or more wins in a row) for England in Ashes history. The last time England won four or more Ashes Tests in a row was the five wins across two series between August 1926 and February 1929. The longest streak of Ashes wins for England was seven wins in the 19th century.

Joe Root became the youngest England batsman, at 22 years and 202 days, to hit a hundred at Lord's in the Ashes. This record was previously with Duleepsinghji, who was 25 years old when he hit an Ashes hundred at Lord's in 1930. Root is only the third-youngest England batsman to hit a century at Lord's, though, behind Denis Compton and his captain, Alastair Cook. He is ninth in the list of youngest England batsmen to hit a century in the Ashes.

Root's century was the first from an England opener, other than Cook or Andrew Strauss, in over ten years. The last century in the Ashes from a right-handed England opener was by Michael Vaughan at Sydney in 2003. Root also became only the sixth opener for England to hit a century at Lord's in the Ashes. John Edrich and Jack Hobbs have two centuries each as openers at Lord's in the Ashes.

This century augurs well for Root's prospects as the future England captain: the last six England openers to hit a century in the Ashes have either done so as England captain, or have ended up as one. Mark Butcher was the only non-regular captain of the six: his only match as England's captain, against New Zealand, was as a mid-series replacement for an injured Nasser Hussain in this match. The last England opener to hit a century in the Ashes and not end up as the England captain was Chris Broad.

This is only the third time that England have won a Test after being three down for 30 or less in both their innings. The last such win for England came against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1934-35. The one before that came in the 19th century - against Australia at The Oval. Overall, in Tests, this has been done only seven times - twice by Australia, once each by Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and three times by England.

Ian Bell's hundred in England's first innings was his third in three consecutive Ashes Tests. He is the fifth England batsman to achieve this feat. Jack Hobbs (twice), Wally Hammond, Chris Broad and Bob Woolmer are the other England batsmen to do so. Like Bell's, Bob Woolmer's three centuries were spread across two Ashes series. In his last ten Ashes innings, Bell has scored 646 runs at an average of 71.77 with three hundreds and four fifties. This is four runs more than what he scored from his previous 25 Ashes innings - he averaged a pedestrian 25.68 from those innings.

Australia's last four batsmen now average better than their first four in this series. Their last four batsmen (No. 8 to No. 11) have scored 261 runs at an average of 20.07 as opposed to their first four (No.1 to No.4) who average 19.06 with a total of 305 runs in the first two Tests.

Australia's tenth wicket partnership has added 497 runs in Tests in 2013 and averages 45.18, the highest for them this year. The 163-run tenth wicket partnership between Phillip Hughes and Ashton Agar in the Trent Bridge Test is also their highest partnership for any wicket this year. Australia's tenth wicket partnership has added 295 runs in two Tests in this Ashes series. This is already the third highest runs added for the tenth wicket by a team in any Ashes series. The most England have added for their tenth wicket in a single Ashes series was 243 runs in 1903-04.

Steven Smith's 3 for 18 in England's first innings was the first instance of a fourth change bowler taking three or more wickets in an innings in the Ashes since 1975. The last time this happened in an Ashes Test, two bowlers achieved this feat in the same match: Tony Greig took 3 for 107 for England and Doug Walters took 4 for 34 for Australia.

Joe Root Alastair Cook Ian Bell England Australia England vs Australia Australia tour of England and Scotland

Shiva Jayaraman is a sub-editor (stats) at ESPNcricinfo