Left Arm Around

With a comprehensive 190-run victory over a stubborn yet inferior Sri Lanka at Lord’s last week, England secured yet another impressive series victory.

Ben Duckett continues to treat the longest format like a casual game in the park, Gus Atkinson is taking Test cricket by storm and Harry Brook performs with a skill, composure and heir of arrogance way beyond his years.

But in a team that has transformed hugely since the introduction of ‘Bazball’ in 2022, let alone in the past 12 years, one ever present in the Three Lions side is Yorkshireman Joe Root.

He came into the team amidst a lot of fanfare from his mentor, the late great Graham Thorpe, however could anybody really imagine just how much he would go on to achieve in his time as an international cricketer.

Debuting in 2012 on England’s incredible winning tour of India, striking 73 in Nagpur, Root was a player who took to Tests like a duck to water.

Subsequent poor form in the dismal 5-0 series whitewash from Australia in 2013/14 Ashes led to him being dropped and experiencing the pressure cooker of failure in an elite environment.

While many would let it define them and not return to the same dizzying heights, Root’s story is one of unbelievable resilience and proof that players can regroup, refocus and come back even stronger.

Question marks continued to linger in some quarters as Root continued to stroke fifties but struggle to convert them into match-winning hundreds.

His average remained high while hit fifties at a rate of knots, but many claimed he could not join the game’s true ‘elite’ until he began to convert those brilliant starts into match-winning big hundreds against stellar opposition.

The 33-year-old went through another lean spell of run-scoring throughout the strange, no-crowd era of COVID Test cricket in 2020, before England were once against thrashed on Australia shores in late 2021, leading the appointment of good friend Ben Stokes as captain in April 2022.

Without the pressure of captaincy and the weight of a nation on his shoulders, Root soon returned to what he did best as Brendon McCullum’s side arguably revolutionised the way Test match cricket is seen and played with startling success and incredible entertainment.

First stroking an unbeaten 115 in England’s chase of 279 against New Zealand at Lord’s, McCullum’s first in charge, Root followed this up with another crucial century at Trent Bridge in the next as the Three Lions sealed an outstanding series win.

A matter of weeks later, capping off an incredible summer, Root also plundered an unbeaten 142 against India at Edgbaston, combining with fellow Yorkie Jonny Bairstow in a 269-run partnership as England chased a record-breaking total of 378 for the loss of only three wickets.

He has failed to score an illusive century on Australian shores to break the glaring ‘monkey on his back’, but as another tour down under awaits next winter, one would feel that Root is looking to make up for lost time and remove the demons of the past.

Two poor batting showings at the Oval in England’s thrashing by Sri Lanka mean the Yorkshireman is still narrowly short of Alastair Cook’s record England run-scoring tally, however it’s hard to see Root failing to celebrate another magnificent achievement in the upcoming first Test against Pakistan on October 7 in Rawalpindi.

Break that and only Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting and the great Sachin Tendulkar will remain ahead of him in the history of Tests- a clear marker of the greatness Root continues to operate at.

At the age of 33 and fitness on his side, could we see Root’s name at the top of the tree come the culmination of his career?

It will be difficult to do but who knows what this run-scoring behemoth will put out of his bag.

Savour him while you can England fans- there’s nobody quite like him…