New Delhi, Sep 1 : Joe Root's impressive milestone of 34 Test centuries has sparked a wave of praise from cricketing legends, with former England captain Michael Vaughan declaring the 33-year-old as the country's "greatest" batter.

Root smashed his 33rd Test hundred on Day 1 of the second Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday at Lord's to go level with England legend Alastair Cook for the most Test centuries by an Englishman. He hit his second ton on Saturday to surpass Cook and become the England player with the most centuries in Test cricket.

"It's not been through crash, bang, wallop. It's been through pure technique and ability. Joe Root is the greatest because he's a wonderful role model as well. He's a fantastic person and a great player," Vaughan told BBC Test Match Special.

Root's recent performance saw him score 143 in England's first innings and an elegant 103 in the second innings, propelling England to set a daunting target of 483 runs for Sri Lanka.

Vaughan emphasised Root's remarkable skill in managing to score runs with ease, noting, "The opposition pretty much always have to have four fielders behind square on the off side because he's just so good. You take away four fielders and all of a sudden there are gaps everywhere else.

"He's just playing normally, rotating the strike without taking any risk. How often do you look up and he has scored 25 in no time at all?"

Despite his numerous accolades, Root, who scored a hundred against 10 nations, has yet to score a century in Australia, a notable gap in his otherwise stellar record.

"The only thing that's missing in his game is that big hundred in Australia. But I can't imagine he won't get three figures in the Ashes next year in Australia."

Cook, who was captain when Root made his debut in 2012, also reflected on Root's exceptional consistency and technique and said, "I don't think anyone else has got that inevitability about him when he gets in that he's going to score runs and make it look as easy as he does.

"There have been some really elegant England batsmen over our time - the likes of Michael Vaughan and Ian Bell. But Root just seems to be way above that level."

/IANS