Joe Root sets a record in test cricket and it's nothing to do with his batting
England's Joe Root plays a shot to score hundred during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)
England's Joe Root plays a shot to score hundred during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)
England's Joe Root walks off the field after losing his wicket during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)
England's Joe Root plays a shot to score hundred during the third cricket test match between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)
LONDON (AP) — England cricket star Joe Root isn't only a batting great.
He also holds a record in test cricket for catching after snaffling Karun Nair with a stunning one-handed grab in the third test against India at Lord's on Friday.
Advertisement
Root has 211 catches in the longest format, the most for an outfielder after breaking a tie with retired India great Rahul Dravid.
Standing in his usual position at first slip, Root dropped to his left to make the one-handed catch just before the ball was going to hit the ground.
Already in this test, Root has made 104 for his national record-extending 37th test century, placing him fifth on the all-time list.
___
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
UFC 318, Manny Pacquiao, Usyk-Dubois 2 and more: 6 big questions for a super-sized fight weekend
If we're lucky here in the combat domain, there are a couple of times a year the fight world explodes with options. This weekend is one of those, as it's wire-to-wire with brand-name action in both MMA and boxing. We have UFC 318 taking place in New Orleans on Saturday night, a special swan song/house party for Louisiana's own Dustin Poirier. We have Oleksandr Usyk's rematch with Daniel Dubois for the undisputed heavyweight title taking place at Wembley in London. There's the return of boxing great Manny Pacquiao and the top-five pound-for-pound mighty mite, Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez, as well as PFL's big adventure down in South Africa, which is being dubbed PFL Champion's Series 2. What does it mean? The return of burgeoning female superstar Dakota Ditcheva. It's a weekend meant to spoil us. Let's launch right in with the most burning questions heading into this massive fight weekend. 1. What is the fight of the weekend? Petesy: It's hard to go with anything else when the undisputed heavyweight title of the world is being contested. I will knock some points off for the situation Joseph Parker finds himself in after Daniel Dubois left him at the alter in February, but Oleksandr Usyk is box office these days. Add to that the drama of the first fight — the low blow (or perfect body shot) in the fifth round and Usyk's finish in the ninth — and we have ourselves set up for a blockbuster. Oh yeah, and it's happening at Wembley Stadium too. C'mon! Chuck: Yup, that is the biggest fight, and for me, Oleksandr Usyk has emerged as a kind of cult icon. At 38 years old, he's a fleeting piece of art in this game. I want to soak in as much of his genius as we can before he heads off into the gloaming, though I hear you on the sympathy for Joseph Parker. It's a hell of a thing to stand by when the ceremony should involve you. What I dig about the setup is that it's at Wembley Stadium. Last time we brushed Dubois to the side, he walked out in that same stadium, in front of nearly 100,000 riled-up spectators, and put it on Anthony Joshua. I'm very protective of the sense of shock that gave me. I don't want to lose that feeling for as long as I watch fighting. It was something to preserve for the times when the fight game is being unkind, or untoward. I think about it when people hammer my X timeline with pics of Conor McGregor's pe... oh wait, you know what's a better question? 2. What is the fight of the weekend? Chuck: Daniel Zellhuber put on the Fight of the Year in 2024 against Esteban Ribovics, such a brutal encounter that we had to wait 10 months to see him again. Zellhuber's capable of a war with Michael Johnson, though I think he overpowers 'The Menace.' Likewise, Kevin Holland is playing with some house money having already fought a month ago at UFC 316, which might lead to some zero-effs-to-give moments for his pay-per-view bout with Daniel Rodriguez. But I'm not going off the grid to pick those, Petesy. I'm no hipster. It has to be Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway, right? If Poirier isn't going out on his shield, why are we here? The stakes are so esoterically tied to his emotion and legacy and the past encounters, I just think he'll be willing to give everything. And that's Holloway's natural state of mind heading into a fight too, along with the motivation not to lose the series 3-0, so … Petesy: I want to go with Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway's trilogy fight, too, because they are both legendary fighters and rarely fail to deliver in terms of spectacle. As true as all those things are, did you read my answer to the first question? Usyk vs. Dubois 2 at Wembley Stadium for the undisputed heavyweight title of the world, a rematch to their controversial first meeting where it could be argued that a referee's incorrect reading of a body shot may have cost Dubois the win … c'mon Chuck. It's going to be crazy. But Holloway and Poirier are right there with them. The Diamond's final bow in New Orleans should be epic. By the way, I tried some of their famous boiled (broiled?) crawfish in New York. Have to admit, not a fan. 3. Win or lose, what's Dustin Poirier's legacy in MMA? And what is your favorite Poirier moment? Petesy: Honestly, it's probably the second and third fights with Conor McGregor, because it showed his growth as well as the Irishman's stagnation. It felt as though McGregor had handpicked Dustin because he felt he had some kind of mental edge over him. McGregor docked in Abu Dhabi in a superyacht while Poirier treated it like any other fight week. The second-round knockout felt as though Poirier was exercising demons in there. When they rematched five months later, McGregor turned from nice guy to villain, but it still didn't deter The Diamond. They were such legendary moments for him, performances that made him the man he is today. Regardless of what happens Saturday, Poirier walks away from the sport a legend. Meanwhile, McGregor is spending his 37th birthday sending, as you alluded to earlier, unsolicited pictures of himself in his birthday suit, lifting weights with his pe… never mind. Anyway, what do you think of Poirier? Chuck: The McGregor sequel and subsequent rubber match were epic from a justification standpoint. When McGregor beat Poirier back during that magical run, it was like he was stripping the identity from his opponents. They were all lost to the Mystic Mac maelstrom, forgotten the moment the carnival left town. Yet Poirier got his opportunity to even the score, and more than did so. He might've cast McGregor away for good. His legacy will be sturdy given the way he fought, his brutal honesty in the fight game, and his genuine fearless love of fighting. Maybe we joke about him pulling the gilly's, but there was something about his heart that will stand the test of time. That Benoit Saint-Denis fight — my God, man. He was being fed to a monster. And he became the greatest matchmaking backfire of the year, biting down on the mouthpiece and finishing "BSD" to earn that title shot. Diamonds are forever, Petesy! 4. If Dakota Ditcheva wins, is she the biggest star in women's MMA? Chuck: PFL doesn't get the eyeballs the UFC does, and therefore the clout, but Dakota is perhaps that one fighter the UFC covets. Why? Because she has the air of something special. She had a chip on her shoulder for that fight with Taila Santos because her detractors accused her of fighting nobodies, and we saw what she did. That was the revelation. She's 26 years old. Comes from a lineage, with her mother being a kickboxing champ. In 14 professional fights, only one has gone to a decision — a not-small, Ronda-esque detail. She is a polished public speaker with the country of England at her back. If she's not the biggest women's star after this fight, she's setting a course to become it within a year. Petesy: I think she is well on her way to becoming that, but I just don't think she can claim that mantle while being a PFL fighter. Although she never said it specifically, you could feel the frustration she had earlier this year being a clearly brilliant fighter and not knowing what the promotion's plans for her were. She's evidently quality, obviously marketable, but would I put her ahead of Kayla Harrison — another brilliant woman who needed to step into the UFC to truly realize her status as the world's best — right now? Probably not. Seriously, could you tell me who Dakota is fighting this weekend without checking Tapology? That's a real problem in the star-building recipe and one PFL is struggling with. Chuck: She's fighting … is it Norma something? Aspen? Jennifer? Damnit, Petesy — I need to look it up. 5. What chance do you give Daniel Dubois in the rematch with Oleksandr Usyk? Petesy: I'm a body-shot truther. I was shouting at my TV, adamant Dubois had landed that shot legally on Usyk in the fifth round of their first fight. The referee giving Usyk more than three minutes to recover from it completely destroyed any momentum the Brit gained before he was finished. I still think it's a long shot, but I definitely give Dubois a chance. He's looked even more impressive against the likes Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgović and Anthony Joshua since their first meeting, so he's coming in with a lot of momentum despite his mysterious 11th-hour withdrawal from the Joseph Parker fight. Chuck: It's OK to be a body-shot truther. We need more of those. And the truth is, the asterisks on that fight are as big as small boulders. I think Dubois has a pretty good chance here. Maybe it'll be the magic of Wembley again, feeding his power. Maybe it'll be the idea people are looking past him, as they did for the Joshua fight. But there was something about his poise in that Joshua fight that tells me the moment won't seem too big. If he gets rolling like he did against Joshua, cracking the bigger shots and feeding off his own momentum, we might just have ourselves a scene out there in London, Petesy. 6. Why did Manny Pacquiao come back? And are we worried about him getting hurt here? Chuck: He's 46 years old and was just inducted into the Hall of Fame. He's more of a political figure these days than he is a pugilist, and the game hasn't stopped moving forward since he went away. His fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. alone generated something like $150 million dollars, which is the kind of purse no man has the strength to carry. In other words, noooooo, Manny! Why?! Petesy: I have absolutely no clue why he is coming back at this age and why I'm meant to be excited about it. Of course, I'm worried about him getting hurt — I guess the only consolation is that he doesn't seem to share the same worry. God bless him, but this weekend it's going to be the watching-through-the-fingers special for me, Chuck.
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Safety certificate doubts over Hillsborough stand
The North Stand at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough ground could be closed for the start of the football season after the city council warned it may not be able to approve the safety certificate necessary for it to be used by fans. The club has been told to carry out repair works after "extensive corrosion" was found in the roof of the stand. Minutes from a meeting of Sheffield City Council's safety advisory group in June warn that the authority will not be "in a position to approve the continuance of the existing general safety certificate" until the works are completed. A spokesperson for Sheffield Wednesday told the meeting that the club was "committed to beginning the work immediately". The minutes, seen by the BBC, said there was "currently no professional reassurance as to the safety of the North Stand structure". A report said corrosion had been observed in the "main steel roof trusses" of the structure and work could include the replacement of some of the steel beams. The club also asked the English Football League (EFL) for an away fixture on the first day of the new season, to give them more time to fix the problem, the documents said. Sheffield Wednesday's first game of the season will be away at Leicester on 10 August, with the first home game on 16 August. Hillsborough has a capacity of 34,835 and the North Stand has dedicated space for disabled fans, with 54 wheelchair spaces and seating for up to 360 disabled supporters. Every football ground with a capacity of more than 10,000 people needs a safety certificate in order to operate. According to the minutes of the meeting, the club had already been in discussions with contractors about repair work on the North Stand. The works could "potentially continue during the season in between fixtures," a club spokesperson told the council. Joe Otten, chair of the environmental services and regulation policy committee at Sheffield City Council, said the safety advisory group had met with Sheffield Wednesday representatives. "As the certifying authority, we carry out our duties in working with organisations to make sure that they meet the requirements of the safety certificate that we issue to them," he said. "It's vital for all of them to make sure that they provide a safe sports ground." He said the group would meet again on Friday, when the club is expected to provide an update on repair work. Sheffield Wednesday and the EFL have been approached for a comment. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North More on this story Owls fans raise money for club's unpaid staff The takeover is off - so what now?
CNN
11 minutes ago
- CNN
Lee Westwood and his caddie wife are the duo defying the odds at the Open Championship
For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, for birdie or for bogey: Lee Westwood and his wife Helen are living every golf couple's dream at The Open Championship. The former world No. 1 rolled back the years to make an impressive start in the 153rd edition of the sport's oldest tournament at Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland on Thursday, with his spouse caddying every step of his two-under 69 opening round on a rain-soaked Dunluce Links course. It may be considered an unconventional – but not unheard of – arrangement for most players, but Westwood never had a second thought about his choice on the bag for his 90th major appearance. 'I prefer to have her caddying for me whenever she can,' the 52-year-old told reporters when he returned to the clubhouse, two shots off the lead. 'It was an easy decision for me. Probably harder for her – she'd rather be at home riding her horse.' The on-course partnership began in 2018, the duo explained on 'The Therapy Crouch' podcast earlier this month. 'I knew I could handle the weight of the bag and what have you, but I didn't have a bloody clue what I was doing,' said Helen, adding that she had never played the sport before that point. Yet it was a move that reaped instant reward, with Westwood claiming his 24th European Tour victory on their third tournament together. When the pair married in Las Vegas in 2021, their 'honeymoon' the following week was spent contesting the US Open in San Diego. While technical decisions on the course, like the choice of club or shot, start and end with the seven-time Ryder Cup champion, mental matters often fall upon the caddie's shoulders. 'Sometimes, when I'm kicking off and having a bit of a moan and a whinge, she looks at me and goes, 'Are you finished?'' Westwood said. 'He's in a beautiful spot doing something that he loves. I'm like, 'Grow up, get on with it,'' Helen added. With world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and home hero Rory McIlroy favorites among a star-studded field as The Open returns to Royal Portrush for just the third time, Westwood arrived as a 500/1 longshot with some bookmakers – but can take heart from the last time the venue played host on the Causeway Coast. The Nottinghamshire-born golfer finished tied-fourth in 2019, Helen on the bag once again, as McIlroy and a host of other big names were left reeling by testing conditions. It can serve as hope in his latest bid to shed the unwanted tag as one of the most talented players to never win a major. The best of his nine top-10 finishes came at the Open in 2010, albeit by seven shots, a year after he had agonizingly missed out on making the tournament playoff by a single stroke. 'I love The Open Championship and I love Portrush,' Westwood said Thursday. 'It's one of the golf courses where if it wasn't The Open and somebody said, 'Do you want to go and play Portrush this weekend?' I'd probably go. And there's not many courses like that.' Westwood's 28th Open start marks his first since 2022, the same year he left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf. He had been competing in a Dallas event on the breakaway circuit just two days before he stamped his ticket for Royal Portrush with a victory in a final qualifying event earlier this month. He had held a share of the early lead with Denmark's Jacob Skov Olesen and China's Li Haotong at four-under par following a fourth birdie of the opening round at the 12th hole, only for bogeys at the 14th and 16th to drop him back. 'Links golf more than any golf gives you a chance when you're our age,' Westwood said. 'There's a bit more run on the ball … you've got to use the conditions.' 'Can't beat a senior name up there on a Thursday … we'll talk again if it's up there on Sunday,' he added.
