Joe Root and James Anderson produced the second extraordinary last-wicket stand of the first Test against India as they broke a 111-year-old England record on the fourth day at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (58) and Mohammed Shami (51 not out) had put on 111 for the 10th wicket to take India to a first innings total 457.
But that was topped by Root, who advanced from his overnight 78 to score a hundred, and Anderson’s stand that saw them surpass the previous England record for the last wicket of 130 set by R.E.Foster and Wilfred Rhodes at Sydney in 1903.
Anderson’s maiden Test fifty — in his 95th match at this level — allied to Shami’s innings made this the first fixture in 137 years of Test cricket where both No 11s had scored a fifty.
The 31-year-old Anderson’s innings, which surpassed his previous first-class best of 37, was also the highest Test score by an England No 11, overtaking John Snow’s 59 not out against the West Indies at The Oval in 1966.