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England batter Joe Root created history on Sunday (Aug 31) with his 34th Test century on day 3 of the second Test against Sri Lanka. Root scored 103 in the second innings to take over Sir Alastair Cook's record of 33 Test tons for most Test hundreds for England.

The England stalwart is at the top among the active Test batters with New Zealand's Kane Williamson (32), Australia's Steve Smith (32) and India's Virat Kohli (29) behind him.

Root had 17 Test hundreds at the start of 2021 while Kohli was at 27. Since then, Root has doubled his Test century count while Kohli has managed just two - marking a long lean patch for the Indian star.

Root had also hit 145 in England's first innings of the ongoing second Test at Lord's and helped England score 427. In reply, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 196, conceding a first-innings lead of 231 runs.

Root again anchored England's second innings - scoring 103 before being the last man out as England were folded for 251 and set Sri Lanka a daunting target of 483.

The second-highest score in England's second innings behind Root was Harry Brook's 37 - demonstrating the batter's skills on a not-so-easy pitch.

By the time the day's play was halted due to bad light, Sri Lanka were 53/2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) on the crease alongside night watchman Prabath Jayasuriya (3).

Root also took a catch in Sri Lanka's second innings to become the first English fielder with 200 catches in Test cricket.