Root sets unwanted Test record with Ashes defeat

• Root lost his 16th Test in Australia, a record for most away Test defeats in one country.
• England lost to Australia in Sydney, Root scored 160. It was his 64th Test defeat.
• Chanderpaul holds the record for most Test losses overall (77) and away (52).

Joe Root, who is arguably England’s greatest cricketer of all time, created an unwanted record of losing the most away Tests in one country on Thursday (January 8). England’s humiliating defeat by 7 wickets

against Australia in the fifth and final Test of the 2025-26 Ashes series played at Sydney Cricket Ground was Root’s 16th Test defeat in Australia. No player in the 149-year-old history of Test cricket has lost 16 or more away Tests in one country.

Root was previously tied level with former England stars James Anderson and Alastair Cook, who have lost 15 Tests each in Australia, but with England’s defeat in Sydney on Thursday, he becomes the sole owner of the No. 1 position.

Players to lose most away Tests in each country 

AWAY COUNTRY	PLAYER(S)	MATCHES LOST
Australia	Joe Root (England)	16
Bangladesh	Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe)	6
England	Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)	11
India	Joe Root (England), James Anderson (England), Ben Stokes (England)	11
New Zealand	Dimuth Karunaratne (Sri Lanka), Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka), Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh)	7
Pakistan	Mohinder Amarnath (India), Sunil Gavaskar (India), Kapil Dev (India), Syed Kirmani (India), Dilip Vengsarkar (India), Gundappa Viswanath (India), Allan Border (Australia), Courtney Walsh (West Indies), Brian Lara (West Indies), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies), Ian Smith (New Zealand) Martin Crowe (New Zealand), Arjuna Ranatunga (Sri Lanka)	5
South Africa	Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)	12
Sri Lanka	Habibul Bashar (Bangladesh), Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh)	8
West Indies	Jack Russell (England), Alec Stewart (England)	8
Zimbabwe	Habibul Bashar (Bangladesh), Manjural Islam (Bangladesh), Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh), Mushfiqur Rahman (Bangladesh)	3

Root, who played a superb knock of 160 runs in the first innings of the Sydney Test, has played a total of 19 Tests in England and ended up losing 16 times. He has only managed to win one Test in Australia so far, and that rare win came during the Boxing Day Test played at Melbourne Cricket Ground last year.

Players to lose most Test matches in Australia (non-Australian)

PLAYER	COUNTRY	DEFEATS
Joe Root	England	16*
Alastair Cook	England	15
James Anderson	England	15
Jack Hobbs	England	14
Sachin Tendulkar	India	14
Brian Lara	West Indies	13
Ben Stokes	England	12*
Wilfred Rhodes	England	12
Ian Bell	England	11
Stuart Broad	England	11
Rahul Dravid	India	11
Virat Kohli	India	11
Kevin Pietersen	England	11
Alec Stewart	England	11
Courtney Walsh	West Indies	11
Bob Willis	England	11

Root travelled to Australia for the first time with the England Test team in 2013 to take part in the 2013-14 edition of the Ashes series. But in that series, English got whitewashed. He, however, played only four matches in that assignment and lost all of them.

In the 2017-18 Ashes series Down Under, Root led England but lost four matches, and one game (in Melbourne) ended in a draw. In the 2021-22 Ashes, England once again played under Root’s leadership and again lost four matches, and one fixture ended in a draw.

In the 2025-26 Ashes series, England have suffered defeats in four out of five matches.

Result of Tests played by Joe Root in Australia

DATES	VENUE	RESULT	MARGIN	ROOT’s SCORES
November 21-24, 2013	Brisbane	Defeat	381 runs	2, 26*
December 5-9, 2013	Adelaide	Defeat	218 runs	15, 87
December 13-17, 2013	Perth (WACA)	Defeat	150 runs	4, 19
December 26-29, 2013	Melbourne	Defeat	8 wickets	24, 15
November 23-27, 2017	Brisbane	Defeat	10 wickets	15, 51
December 2-6, 2017	Adelaide	Defeat	120 runs	9, 67
December 14-18, 2017	Perth (WACA)	Defeat	Innings and 41 runs	20, 14
December 26-30, 2017	Melbourne	Draw	—	61
January 4-8, 2018	Sydney	Defeat	Innings and 123 runs	83, 58*
December 8-11, 2021	Brisbane	Defeat	9 wickets	0, 89
December 16-20, 2021	Adelaide	Defeat	275 runs	62, 24
December 26-28, 2021	Melbourne	Defeat	Innings and 14 runs	50, 28
January 5-9, 2022	Sydney	Draw	—	0, 24
January 14-16, 2022	Hobart	Defeat	146 runs	34, 11
November 21-23, 2025	Perth	Defeat	8 wickets	0, 8
December 4-6, 2025	Brisbane	Defeat	8 wickets	138*, 15
December 17-21, 2025	Adelaide	Defeat	82 runs	19, 39
December 26-27, 2025	Melbourne	Win	4 wickets	0, 15
January 4-8, 2026	Sydney	Defeat	5 wickets	160, 6

The world record for losing the most Test matches (home and away combined) is in the name of former West Indies batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul. The legendary left-handed batter played 164 Tests from March 1994 to May 2015 but suffered defeats in 77 of them.

He is followed by Anderson (68 defeats) and Root is now third on the list with 64 defeats in 163 Tests played so far.

Players to lose most Test matches 

PLAYER	COUNTRY	TESTS PLAYED	MATCHES LOST
Shivnarine Chanderpaul	West Indies	164	77
James Anderson	England	188	68
Joe Root	England	163	64*
Brian Lara	West Indies	131	63
Mushfiqur Rahim	Bangladesh	100	63

Chanderpaul also holds the record for losing the most Tests away from home. He is followed by Lara, and Root is now joint-third in the list.

Players to lose most Tests (away from home)

PLAYER	COUNTRY	TESTS PLAYED	MATCHES LOST
Shivnarine Chanderpaul	West Indies	83	52
Brian Lara	West Indies	66	43
Joe Root	England	79	42*
James Anderson	England	82	42
Sachin Tendulkar	India	106	42
Younis Khan	Pakistan	99	41

Root, who is less than 2000 runs away from becoming the highest run-getter in Test cricket, is unlikely to travel to Australia again for an Ashes series. He, however, might feature in the one-off Test staged at Melbourne next year to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Test cricket.