England’s Joe Root and James Anderson set a new record for the most runs scored by a tenth-wicket partnership in Test cricket, on the fourth day of the first Test against India at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
The duo’s stand of 198 surpassed the previous tenth-wicket Test record of 163 — shared by Australia’s Phil Hughes and Ashton Agar against England, also at Trent Bridge, last year.
Root and Anderson’s effort was the second impressive tenth-wicket stand of the match after Bhuvneshwar Kumar (58) and Mohammed Shami (51 not out) had put on 111 for India in a first innings total 457.
Yet, thanks to Root (154 not out) and Anderson, eventually dismissed for a Test-best 81, England achieved a first-innings lead of 39 runs, having been 298 for nine on Friday.
This match was also the first in 137 years of Test cricket where both sides had seen their last-wicket duo share hundred partnerships and where both number elevens — Shami and Anderson — had made fifties.
Left-handed batsman Anderson was eventually out shortly after lunch, having failed to add to his interval score, when he was well caught at first slip by Shikhar Dhawan after edging an intended drive off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who finished with a Test-best haul of five for 82.
Anderson’s score was the third highest by an Test No 11 following Agar’s 98 at Trent Bridge last year and Tino Best’s 95 for the West Indies against England at Birmingham’s Edgbaston ground in 2012.