“I know this one,” Joe Root says with a little grin as he confirms the latest milestone he will reach in Test cricket on Wednesday when England play New Zealand in Christchurch. “It will be my 150th Test. We’re fortunate to play so much Test cricket compared to other nations, so you can rattle them up rather quickly. But I’ve had to work hard and overcome different challenges along the way, so I’m very grateful to have had so many chances.”
A minute earlier Root had been uncertain when I asked him if he knew what it would mean were he to score another 625 Test runs. A modest and generous man, Root thought hard and then admitted he had no clue. The answer is that, once those runs have been accumulated, he will become the second highest scorer in Test cricket. He will overtake Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting and trail only Sachin Tendulkar.
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It might seem a small sacrilege to consider the weight of Root’s monumental achievements in purely statistical terms. He bats with such beauty and grace that it is far more pleasurable to watch a sumptuous highlights reel. But as Root racks up yet more records it’s worthwhile to consider the mighty numbers for a while. Last month, while hitting a double century against Pakistan, Root became England’s highest scorer when he sailed past Alastair Cook’s previous record of 12,472 runs. He and Harry Brook plundered 454 runs while setting a record for England’s highest Test partnership.
“I’ve tried not to get too obsessed with that stuff,” Root says with a gentle shrug, “because it goes against the way I look at the game. They are all niceties but, ultimately, the real enjoyment is when you’re sat there after winning a Test over five days of hard graft, enjoying it with your mates. I know it’s a cliche but that’s what you want more than anything. The 2019 World Cup final was one of the worst games I’ve had in an England shirt, but it’s one of the best days I’ve had on a cricket field. That’s the beauty of cricket.”
Root warms to his selfless theme. “Cricket is a game of failure because the amount of times you walk off disappointed outweighs the times where you’ve had a great day,” he adds. “But there’s always something else, and someone else, you can celebrate. That’s what makes it so fun. It’s not all about you, it’s about collectively dragging each other over the line.”
Next month will mark the 12th anniversary of Root’s Test debut. In Nagpur, he came out at No 6 and bumped gloves with Kevin Pietersen. England were creaking at 119 for four but Root beamed. He and Pietersen ended up joint-top scorers in the first innings with 73 each and he was unbeaten on 20 in the second innings. Root had arrived in style.
“It doesn’t feel like 12 years ago,” he says. “I’ve got pretty vivid memories of that experience – and all the nerves I’d had waiting to bat just disappeared. I was so excited and couldn’t stop smiling. I remember being thrilled to be out there and having the opportunity to play. I thought of how I would have felt when I was 12.
“Throughout my career I’ve tried to carry that 12-year-old version of myself, that kid who dreamed and practised for hours and hours, wanting to play for England. When you’ve done it quite a few times, it would be easy to forget what a great opportunity you have and what it was like being a kid just desperate to play. When I was 12, I would wake up in the morning and open the curtains and pray it wasn’t raining so I could play.”
Root concedes that, especially during his difficult years as captain and the grind of enduring a Covid bubble, “you obviously need little reminders here and there … but I can sit here now and say that, thankfully, I enjoy playing cricket as much as I did 12 years ago. It’s important to have that because you need to turn up to training wanting to get better. That enthusiasm, that sheer enjoyment factor, has to be a really big part of who you are.”
His pleasure in cricket is obvious as he holds one of the New Balance bats which has allowed him to score so many runs in Test cricket. Root is an ambassador for the company and, even on a day off, he looks serene with a bat in his hands. But what have been the greatest challenges of his career? “The same as any player – dips in form,” he says. “There’s so much information and technology now that the opposition can work you out, pick up trends and modes of dismissals and target certain areas. That’s why it’s so important to constantly evolve. There have probably been times where I’ve overtinkered but it’s all come from trying to stay one step ahead of the opposition. That attitude has brought me a lot of success but sometimes you have to take a few hits before moving another big step forward.”
Root’s balanced perspective has been sharpened by the loss he felt when Graham Thorpe, his batting mentor, took his own life in August. He was a pallbearer at Thorpe’s funeral and Root talks quietly about how much he learned from his great friend. They forged a bond on an England Lions tour of Sri Lanka when, Root says: “I’d have been 21. Throughout that whole trip I learned so much from him, how I wanted to create different angles, use my sweeps and manipulate the ball into gaps. There’ve been so many other lessons over a 10‑year period. A lot of my success has been down to Graham and I will be eternally grateful for all that he did for me.
“I’ve got so many good memories because he was such a great man with such a great sense of humour and good nature. He taught me so much on and off the field – in that old Guns N’ Roses T-shirt that he wore at some point on every tour throughout that 10-year period.”
Thorpe experienced depression most of his cricketing life and Root stresses: “That’s why it’s so important to keep having those conversations, checking in, making sure people are doing OK. You spend so much time together, going through all the highs and lows and being away from your family for so long. Whether they’re in and around the team, or away from you, the hope is that people know they can talk to you about things. You want people to feel like they don’t need to deal with things all on their own.”
When Root broke Cook’s record, his captain Ben Stokes highlighted his “selflessness”. Stokes concentrated on the fact that Root is “a great bloke” rather than simply “an incredible player”. It might sound too touchy-feely for the hard-bitten cynic but an hour in Root’s company suggests that Stokes found the right tone when he concluded: “The non‑selfishness that Joe possesses is the one thing that sets him apart.”
Root, naturally, deflects the praise. “They’re nice things to hear but ultimately that’s what it should be because no one’s bigger than the team.”
He laughs. “I’m full of cliches today but it’s the truth. You’re going to have bad days but you have to try to be consistent and keep driving things in the right direction.”
Beyond the personal plaudits, Root is part of a squad entering a defining period. New Zealand are on a high after a 3-0 series win in India this month. They will provide extremely difficult opposition and then, next year, England face five Tests at home against India before travelling to the Ashes in Australia. These next 13 Tests could make or break an often thrilling but still somewhat tenuous era for a team led by Stokes and coached by Brendon McCullum.
England won the first Test in Pakistan by an innings. It was a remarkable victory as Root and Brook chased down Pakistan’s first‑innings score of 556. Yet England collapsed in the next two Tests and lost the series against a previously struggling Pakistan. “They outplayed us in key moments,” Root admits, while pointing out that the second Test in Multan was played on the same wicket used for the opening match. The third Test in Rawalpindi featured a pitch that had been blasted with heaters, and raked heavily.
“They were fast-forward wickets, a day-six pitch on day one for the second Test and then they’d raked it and used their home advantage for the third Test.
“You can understand it as they had not won a Test at home for a long time and they exploited it better than we did. But in those big moments we missed a couple of chances in the field. In those low-scoring games, that can really cost you. But credit to them as their spinners performed exceptionally.”
Considering New Zealand’s achievements in India, Root says: “They played some really good cricket against a very experienced and successful team. I think we were the last team to win in India, in 2012, so New Zealand were incredible. It’s going to be a tough tour and then we play India followed by the Ashes. It will give a really good barometer of where we are and so it’s a mouth-watering 12 months ahead.
“I’d love us to win the Ashes over there. That would mean more to me than anything. The last time England won in Australia was 2010-11 and I was there at the Darren Lehmann Academy in Adelaide. During that Test I was net-bowling against the guys that weren’t playing. I then went to Melbourne to watch the Boxing Day Test match. It was great to watch it unfold and to do something similar would be the ultimate.”
Root has yet to score a Test hundred in Australia and, in 14 Ashes Tests away from home, he has lost 12 and drawn two. He says: “The last couple of times I’ve been out there, particularly when I was captain, I probably wanted it a bit too much. Ben feels the same. We’ve played a lot out there and not had a lot to show for it. But the prospect of doing so much better this time is exciting.”
At 33 he remains fresh-faced but it is striking that Root is now the same age as Cook when the former England record-holder retired. Cook was worn out while Root’s enthusiasm seems undimmed. “We’re very different players,” Root says. “Cookie’s mental fortitude and resilience was his greatest strength but opening the batting takes its toll. Sometimes, you’ve fielded all day and you have to face five overs in rubbish light against fresh bowlers. That can weigh you down more than the role I’ve played.”
Root has such talent, the game comes so easily to him, and those gifts help explain his longevity. “Everyone’s different and on a different journey,” he says. “It might still be that my career finishes quite abruptly if I change my mind. But it doesn’t feel that way at the minute and I’m not going to put any timeline on how long I play for. As long as I’m fit, healthy and I’ve still got that drive and enjoyment I’ll continue to keep playing and loving it.”
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