England v India: James Anderson & Joe Root in record Test stand

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England's Joe Root and James AndersonImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Joe Root and James Anderson broke a 111-year-old record for England's highest last-wicket stand in Tests

James Anderson and Joe Root shared the highest last-wicket stand in Test history as England mounted a superb fourth-day fightback against India.

They put on 198 in the first Test at Trent Bridge, beating the 163 between Australia's Phil Hughes and Ashton Agar at the same ground last year.

Anderson made 81 - the highest score by an England number 11 - with Root unbeaten on 154 as England made 496.

In their second innings, India closed on 167-3 - a lead of 128.

"It's still sinking in what we've achieved. It's the first time I've enjoyed batting," said seam bowler Anderson, whose previous highest Test score was 34.

Record breakers at the Bridge

Root and Anderson's stand was the highest for the 10th wicket in Tests

Anderson made the highest Test score by an England number 11

Anderson's innings of 230 minutes was the longest by a Test number 11

No player has waited as long as Anderson for his maiden Test fifty - 131 innings

Never before have two number 11s scored half-centuries in the same Test

This is the first Test in which there have been two century stands for the last wicket

"I got 49 not out once for Burnley when I batted through a 50-over game."

Root and Anderson had helped England recover from 298-9 to open up a first-innings lead of 39.

They came together at 17:30 BST on Friday after an England batting collapse, and resumed on Saturday with the hosts 352-9.

Root, who began the day on 78, completed his fourth Test hundred off 186 balls as he and Anderson frustrated the India bowlers on a flat pitch.

Anderson, 23 not out overnight, was dropped on 46 but thrilled a capacity crowd in recording the highest first-class score of his 168-match career.

Highest 10th-wicket Test partnerships

198: J Root & J Anderson, England v India, Nottingham, 2014

163: P Hughes & A Agar, Australia v England, Nottingham, 2013

151: B Hastings & R Collinge, New Zealand v Pakistan, Auckland, 1973

151: A Mahmood & M Ahmed, Pakistan v South Africa, Rawalpindi, 1997

143: D Ramdin & T Best, West Indies v England, Birmingham, 2012

His innings surpassed the previous highest score by an England number 11, the 59 not out made by John Snow in 1966., external

India's total featured a record last-wicket stand of their own, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and last man Mohammed Shami put on 111, and this match is also the first time two number 11s have scored fifties in the same Test.

"The game has been turned on its head," former England captain Michael Vaughan said on Test Match Special. "England were in a real hole."

Former England football captain and BBC presenter Gary Lineker tweeted:, external "Well played Anderson and Root on their record last-wicket stand. Great stuff!"

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