England on Friday achieved a historic milestone in Test cricket as the team became the first team to score 5,00,000 runs in the longest format of the game. England touched the milestone in the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
England become 1st team in history to score 500,000 runs
Apart from this, team England has also played the most number of Test matches and reached the feat in what was their 1022nd Test match.
England is followed by their arch-rivals Australia, who are sitting at the second spot with 4,32,706 runs in 830 Test matches. The third spot has been grabbed by India with 2,37,518 runs in 540 Test matches followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).
England touched the landmark after skipper Joe Root gently cover drove a stroke to pick up a single in the ongoing Wanderers Test against South Africa.
Meanwhile, in the third Test played at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil followed by Australia to play the most away Test with 404 matches and India being at the third spot with 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.
Talking about the match, England opted to bat first after winning the toss as openers Zak Crawley and Dominic Sibley took the visitors off to a great start. The duo stitched a brilliant 107-run opening stand before Sibley departed for 44. Crawley went on to notch up his half-century before getting dismissed by Vernon Philander at 66.
Joe Denly settled down pretty quickly but threw his wicket away to Dane Paterson. All-rounder Ben Stokes was sent packing for two by express speedster Anrich Nortje.
All eyes will be on skipper Root and Ollie Pope on Day 2 after the English duo remained unbeaten on 25 and 22 respectively. England, who finished Day 1 at 192/4, will be hoping that Root and Pope go on to make a big score with the likes of Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, and Chris Woakes yet to bat for the visitors.
