Joe Root scripted history by breaking the record for most Test hundreds by an England batter. He slammed the 34th Test ton of his career in the ongoing second Test against Sri Lanka at the Lord’s and went past Alastair Cook’s record of 33 hundreds.

He is the fourth batter in Test cricket history history to score two centuries in a game at the iconic Lord’s after George Headley, Graham Gooch and Michael Vaughan.

Former England cricketer David Lloyd heaped massive praise on Root. “That was a magnificent hundred from Joe Root,” Lloyd wrote in a column for the Daily Mail.

“He footwork and head position are in sync.”

Root has amassed 12377 runs from 145 Tests and is amongst the top-10 run-getters in the longest format. Sachin Tendulkar heads the list with 15921 runs from 200 Tests and Lloyd feels Root has a chance to break the Indian batter’s world record.

“England play a lot of Test matches and with the skills Joe Root has, there is a chance of him going past Sachin Tendulkar’s world record of 15,921 runs,” he further wrote.

Lloyd also spoke about stand-in captain Ollie Pope’s poor form with the bat.

He urged Pope to follow Joe Root’s style. “Ollie Pope is trying different things. He should stick to basics and be himself. Ollie should follow Joe Root’s style. He should play according to his strengths.”