Joe Root: A master of batting
The cheeky-grinned man from Sheffield is officially the best batter in the world- and looks far from done
For years, England’s middle order has featured a man who has been a stalwart of innings around the world. On many occasions, he would be calm whilst chaos ensued around him with batting collapses becoming a feature of England.
The 2024 series against the West Indies was a successful one for England, with a 3–0 win and plenty of runs for the batters, and a good debut series for bowler Gus Atkinson. Root top scored for England, with 293 runs across the three matches at an average of 73.
This included 122 in the second innings at Trent Bridge, an innings that saw him at the crease for over 60 overs. Regular contributions are commonplace when Root is playing Test cricket, 32 centuries is a testament to this. On 21 of these occasions, England have gone on to win.
Following this series, Root was named the ICC Number One Test batter in the world, ahead of the likes of Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, and Kane Williamson. Root has fought through his own drops in form to remain as one of the ‘Fab Four’ Test batters as this quartet has come to be known.
In reality, however, Root has been a good deal better than the other three since the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, he scored 1,708 runs in 29 innings at an average of 61, his most successful year ever in Test cricket. This is also the fourth time that Root has surpassed 1,000 runs in a calendar year, and with potentially 18 innings left this year (six each at home to Sri Lanka then the same in Pakistan and then New Zealand), he’s a great chance to make 2024 the fifth time he does so.
The ‘Bazball’ era saw batters around Root pick up the pace with run-scoring, and the Yorkshireman has had his share of big-hitting on the Test scene. Yet he is a player who seems to be able to do so without playing risky shots. The runs come easily to Root, and his reaching 12,000 Test runs during the West Indies series is evidence of this.
In the crazy world of high, fast-scoring Test cricket, Joe Root has been able to stick to what he does best. When in his stride, he is a true master of his art, and being able to bat for an extended period whilst also keeping the scoreboard ticking is an art in itself.
For 12 years now, Root has been able to guide England to resectable and big batting totals- with many of these feeling like he’s done so single-handedly. There would be times on the first morning of a Test match when he would be at the crease with barely a few overs bowled and would be tasked with dragging his side out of a messy situation.
In another 500 runs, Root will overtake Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakarra and leading English run scorer Alistair Cook. This will put him fifth in the all-time ranking and with the confidence of the way he bats, Root will have his sights set on at least cracking the top three in the history of the sport.
England fans should have Joe Root as a linchpin in the batting line-up for several more years, and if the recent retirements of Stuart Broad and then James Anderson have taught us anything, it’s to make the most of these icons of the game before it’s too late.
