Joe Root’s Test century drought ends in Australia, Matthew Hayden saved from losing a big bet

By Samira Vishwas On Dec 14, 2025

The best example of this can be Sachin Tendulkar’s wait for his 100th 100 (there was a gap of 371 days between his 99th and 100th centuries) or Virat’s wait of 1205 days (3 years, 3 months and 17 days) for his 28th century in Tests. Root scored 138* against Australia in Brisbane and became the first English batsman and fourth batsman overall to score 40 career 100s in Test cricket (others: Ricky Ponting 41, Jacques Kallis 45 and Sachin Tendulkar 51).

Joe Root’s Test 100 drought in Australia had become a bit of a mystery. This drought had put pressure on Root and perhaps he realizes that this is his last Australia Test tour. After waiting for a long time, when he scored 100, he took off his helmet, raised his bat and now he must be feeling relieved.

This does not mean that there was any doubt about his batting class in the Test in Australia. Although now he has made 100 but there is still one more benchmark to cross. He is one of only four batsmen to have a Test average of 40+ (at least 10 innings in each country) in at least 7 countries. In this list, Sachin Tendulkar is at the top with this record in 8 countries (others: Younis Khan, Joe Root and Inzamam-ul-Haq) but the special thing is that Joe Root has not crossed this benchmark in Australia (average 37.60 till Brisbane Test).

Joe Root scored 100 in his 30th Test innings (of 16 Tests) in Australia and he hopes this will not be his last 100 in Australia. Overall, this was his 5th 100 against Australia, scored in perhaps the toughest conditions in a pink-ball Test. Earlier, his top score in Australia was 89 runs and that too was made at Gabba.

Joe Root now has a total of 40 Test 100s and in the Fab 4, he is the first player from 33 to reach 40 Test 100s. In fact, the remaining three are now far behind: Steve Smith – 36, Kane Williamson – 33 and Virat Kohli – 30. Some more special facts:

*His first century in Australia was his 100th run, also his 1000th test run in Australia.

* Lowest innings played for 40 Test 100s: 246 – Jacques Kallis, 251 – Sachin Tendulkar, 273 – Ricky Ponting and 291 – Joe Root.

* Joe Root’s first Test 100 in every country:

England – 104, Leeds, 2013

West Indies – 182*, St. George, 2015

South Africa – 110, Johannesburg, 2016

India – 124, Rajkot, 2016

Sri Lanka – 124, Pallekele, 2018

New Zealand – 226, Hamilton, 2019

Pakistan – 262, Multan, 2024

Australia – 138*, Brisbane, 2025

*Fab 4 Test 100 outside home country (100 per innings):

18: Steve Smith (6.2)

16: Virat Kohli (7.7)

16: Joe Root (7.3)

13: Kane Williamson (7.6)

*Where Joe Root scored 40 Test 100: 24 in England; 4 in West Indies; 3-3 in India, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, 1-1 in South Africa, Pakistan and Australia.

One of the names who was most happy to see Joe Root score Test 100 in Australia is that of Grace Hayden. Grace is the daughter of former Australian opener Matthew Hayden and a TV anchor and she was happy that her father won a bet by scoring this 100. His father had promised that ‘if he (Root) does not make Test 100 on this tour, he will walk around the Melbourne Cricket Ground without clothes.’ That’s why Grace also posted on Instagram, ‘Please Joe Root, make 100.’ 54-year-old Matthew Hayden was confident that he would make Route 100 on this tour. He had made a bet on this with his former Australian friend Greg Blewett.

Grace Hayden, 23, took to social media to thank Joe Root… for saving her father from keeping his promise to walk around the Melbourne Cricket Ground naked. After this he showed a clip from the film F1 released this year, in which a team principal playing the role of Javier Bardem is celebrating loudly after his team wins the race. The caption written below it, ‘Joe Root finally scored a Test century in Australia.’

In July 2020, Virat Kohli led the Fab 4 with 27 Test centuries, followed by Steve Smith with 26, Kane Williamson with 21 and Root with the lowest number of 17 centuries. Now this England batsman has 40 centuries in his name.