Australian legend Matthew Hayden can breathe a sigh of relief. He won’t have to run naked at the MCG, as he had promised. The reason? Joe Root finally ended his Australia jinx, scoring his maiden Ashes century down under on his sixth tour. This was the first time he raised his bat on Australian soil across all formats. But there was someone more confident than Root. Before the Ashes 2025-26 began, Hayden placed a bet that if Root did not get a century on this tour, he would run naked at the MCG.
Joe Root, whose highest score in Australia in a Test was 89 before that, played a masterful knock. As Mitchell Starc breathed fire, Root held on to the other end. From 5/2, Root added a 117-run stand with Zack Crawley to steady the ship. Then, he added another 54-run stand with Harry Brook. He completed his maiden Test century in Australia with just a few overs left in Day 1 of the AUS vs ENG Gabba Test.
As Root notched up his 40th Test hundred, first in Australia, Hayden left the commentary room to celebrate. It was a moment of triumph for Root, but for Hayden too.
“Good day, Joe. Congratulations, mate, on the hundred here in Australia. Took you a while, and there was no one who had more skin in the game than me, literally. I was backing you in for the hundred in a good way. So mate, congratulations 10, 50s and finally 100. You little ripper, mate. Have a beauty and bloody enjoy it,” Matthew Hayden said in a video posted by England Cricket.
40th in Test 1st in Australia
Having scored four centuries in the West Indies, three each in India and New Zealand, and one each in South Africa and Pakistan, Australia was his final frontier. And he got that long-awaited hundred when England were under pressure in the Brisbane Pink-ball Test. His century and some blazing shots in the last few overs from Jofra Archer helped England close the day at 325/9 in 74 overs. Against Australia at home, Root had smashed four centuries and nine fifties.
With that century, Joe Root became only the fourth batter in history to score 40 or more centuries in Test after Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45) and Ricky Ponting (41). With the kind of form he is in, Root is not far away from breaking Tendulkar’s record of 51 Test centuries. His nearest rival is Steve Smith and Kane Williamson, with Virat Kohli already calling it quits in the longest format of the game.
Joe Root Record in All Countries
| Nation | Runs | Avg | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 7329 | 55.52 | 24 | 33 |
| Australia | 1035* | 38.33 | 1 | 9 |
| South Africa | 703 | 50.21 | 1 | 6 |
| India | 1272 | 45.42 | 3 | 6 |
| New Zealand | 1006 | 50.30 | 3 | 5 |
| West Indies | 824 | 51.50 | 4 | 2 |
| Pakistan | 477 | 47.70 | 1 | 1 |
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