Ashes: Joe Root breaks long-standing Australia curse with 40th Test century
English batter Joe Root ticked off one more milestone with his maiden century in Australia in the second Test of the 2025-26 Ashes Down Under.
New Delhi: Joe Root's century drought Down Under was one of the biggest talking points ahead of the 2025 Ashes series between England and Australia. Since making his debut in 2012, Root has been consistently ranked among the most prolific batters in modern-day cricket. But despite almost achieving all there is to achieve, one thing eluded him. A century in Australia. Well, not anymore!
The English batter finally ended the 12-year jinx on Thursday by slamming his maiden century in Australia and 40th in Test cricket. Root achieved the feat on Day 1 of the Day-Night Test at the Gabba, Brisbane. In typical style, Root showed immense grit and determination in the face of adversity to finally break the curse in his 30th innings in Australia.
As wickets continued to tumble, Root stood firm at one end and stitched a couple of useful partnerships to steer the English ship, which was rocked early on by Mitchell Starc. The left-arm pacer reduced England to 5/2 by dismissing Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for a duck each.
But Root and Zak Crawley stopped the collapse by building a crucial 117-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Root also combined with Harry Brook and Ben Stokes for a brief period to keep the scoreboard ticking. He completed the milestone in the 67th over, bowled by Scott Boland, and broke into wild celebrations.
Like Root, Australian batting legend Matthew Hayden must have also breathed a sigh of relief. Before the series, Hayden put his money on Root and promised to walk naked at the Melbourne Cricket Ground if the Englishman failed to score a single century in the Ashes.
Joe Root's centuries by country
| Country | Number of centuries |
|---|---|
| England | 24 |
| West Indies | 4 |
| India | 3 |
| New Zealand | 3 |
| Sri Lanka | 3 |
| South Africa | 1 |
| Pakistan | 1 |
| Australia | 1 |
Root breaks Smith's record
It was a case of double delight for the English fans as Root also broke Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith's record for most centuries away from home in the World Test Championship. Root surpassed Smith, who held the record with eight centuries.
Root also moved within one century of Ricky Ponting's mark of 41 centuries in the all-time Test list. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar holds the record with 51 tons, followed by South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who finished his career with 45 hundreds.
Earlier, Starc breathed fire with the pink-ball and became the most succesful left-arm fast bowler in the world, surpassing Wasim Akram's tally of 414 wickets, after England opted to bat first in the second Test.
Starc ended the day with six wickets as England reached 325 for 9 at Stumps. Root (135) and Jofra Archer (32) put Australian bowlers to the sword in the last half hour of play by stitching an unbeaten 61-run stand off just 41 balls.