A stunning 166 against the West Indies was another highpoint for a 34-year-old cricketer who is already fifth in the all-time list of Test run scorers
Joe Root once said, “The nirvana for batting is to have nothing in your mind. You can just watch the ball and play”. Root’s mind must have been empty on Sunday in Cardiff as he took England to an unlikely victory in the one-day international against the West Indies with 166 runs, scored as unobtrusively as always.
There has never been an England batsman more adept than Root at scoring off good balls without seeming to do anything. Stumbling slightly as he runs down the wicket, his bat held crossways in two hands, Root moves, without apparent labour, to his next triumph.
As Michael Vaughan, a former England captain and Root’s mentor from his Sheffield club days, has said: “Root is the best we’ve had”. Root does indeed sit astride English cricket. He has scored more Test runs (13,006) than anyone else, at an average (50.8) higher than anyone for half a century.
He is England’s most prolific batsman in one-day internationals. Only four players in the history of the game have scored more Test runs than him and, at the age of 34, Root has time to become the most prolific run scorer in the history of the game.
Alastair Cook, the captain who gave him his debut for England in 2012, describes Root’s style as an “inevitability”. And that perhaps is a clue to why, as heralded as he is, Root may yet be under-appreciated. He does not beg for attention with personal tics like the Australian Steve Smith. He does not command the crease like Virat Kohli of India. Root merely runs onto the outfield, hops to the side for a couple of apologetic jumps and then takes guard to bat. Hemingway always used to stop writing when he got into a flow because it meant he knew exactly where to pick up the next morning. Root bats in that way, like a good argument that seems to move inexorably towards its conclusion.
There may be another reason why Root is not as appreciated as he ought to be: he is as modest as a sportsman of his calibre can be.
Joe Root was born on 30 December 1990, to Matt and Helen Root. He still lives – with his wife Carrie and two young children, Alfred and Isabella – in the picturesque suburb of Dore where he grew up, on the road into the Peak District out of Sheffield. Though he won a scholarship to the private Worksop College at 15, Root was educated at the local King Ecgbert school, named after a Wessex king who was recognised as the overlord of England at Dore in 829.
The surname “Root” has two possible sources. The first is an Old English term for a cheerful soul, and all those who know him well testify to the fact that Root is well named. It would be easy to think of Root as an identikit professional sportsman. He is, by his own admission, not much of a reader. He likes Sheffield United, golf, hometown band Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters and cars (BMW X5 and Range Rover). Even his endorsements – “Joe Root freshens up with Brut” – are familiar ground for the unthreatening sportsman.
He sketches, sings Mardy Bum with a ukulele and supports children’s charities
The one quirk comes from the second possible source of Root as a surname, after the musician who played the “rote”, a stringed instrument. Root has been known to entertain his teammates on tour with a ukulele version of Mardy Bum by Arctic Monkeys which he cheerfully admits “sounds horrendous”. His George Formby antics have even inspired the tribute A Message To You, Rooty from the Sheffield band The Everly Pregnant Brothers.
Yet there is more to Root than this. He is a millennial cricketer who likes sketching using his Apple pencil on his iPad. He has been vocal in support of children’s charities and initiatives on mental health in sport. In 2019, during a Test in Saint Lucia, the West Indian bowler Shannon Gabriel allegedly made a homophobic remark. Root’s reply was caught on the stump mic: “There’s nothing wrong with being gay”. When his close friend Ben Stokes took a break from cricket in 2021 to focus on his mental health, Root said simply and touchingly: “I just want my friend to be OK.”
In fact, this sensitivity might help to explain the one professional blemish on Root’s career. It has to be said that Root was not a great Test captain. Between 2017 and 2022 he captained England in 64 Tests and though he has more victories (27) to his credit than anyone else, he also has more defeats (26). Root was too timid and passive, and now regrets that he did not assert himself on selection. After eight defeats and two draws in Ashes Test matches, the former Australian captain Ian Chappell called his leadership “unimaginative”.
The most notorious example was the Lord’s Test against India in 2021. England needed two wickets on the final morning to leave themselves with a low target for victory. Root, though, allowed his bowlers to get carried away with trying to hit the not-especially-accomplished Indian batsman Jasprit Bumrah. England ended up losing a game they ought to have won. Root apologised for getting it wrong but, in the end, he stopped enjoying the job. “It was getting to the point where I wasn’t really present,” he said. “I just felt like a bit of a zombie almost.”
It is to Root’s credit, and an indication of his modesty, that he returned so easily to the ranks. There is a big year to come. First, a series at home against India and then, at the end of the year, the challenge of the Ashes in Australia, where Root has never made a Test hundred. It would be foolish to bet against him. Back in Dore, Joe Root is not yet even the most feted athletic alumnus of King Ecgbert school. That honour belongs to Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, after whom the sports hall is named. But in the world of cricket there is only one overlord of England and it cannot be long before the school inaugurates the Sir Joe Root Pavilion.
Illustration by Andy Bunday
Social links
Copyright © 2025 Tortoise Media
All Rights Reserved
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.