It could have easily been a square drive through the covers, a clip off the pads through midwicket, a late guide down to third or, for a laugh, perhaps even that divisive reverse ramp. Joe Root has so many options at his disposal, so many ways by which he can either pierce or clear an in-field, that any number would have been a fitting way to overtake Alastair Cook and become England’s leading run‑scorer in Test cricket.
In the end, as Root marshalled England’s fightback against Pakistan in Multan with this 35th Test century, it was a simple yet sublime on-driven four that took him to 71 before lunch on day three and thus a tick past Cook’s tally of 12,472 Test runs. Cook held the English record for nine years in all, pushing Graham Gooch’s 8,900 into second place in 2015 for a case of apprentice eclipsing master. But even as he trowelled more and more on to that impressive pile before retirement three years later, Cook knew in all likelihood that he was keeping the seat warm for his teammate.
If there were a number of fitting ways Root could have reached this summit, there was only ever going to be one way to mark it. For all the mastery Root has delivered over the course of a 12‑year England career, for all the frictionless skill that made for a generational talent, it has seldom been about self.
After threading Aamir Jamal to the rope he strolled down the pitch for a spot of gardening, punched gloves with Ben Duckett, and eventually offered a modest wave to an England balcony that was in raptures. Still 335 runs behind in the match, the job was anything but complete.
It may be that, as well as cricket’s paywalled existence in the UK, this lack of ego and self-promotion has stopped Root fully transcending the sport. There was a time when the man of the series in a home Ashes win would have booked a spot on the shortlist for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
But in 2015, when Root achieved that feat, he did not make the cut. Root is not lacking in personality – far from it, he is a beauty – but somehow this understated excellence in his chosen field has never quite gone fully mainstream, unlike Andrew Flintoff in 2005 or Ben Stokes in 2019. This being a more low-key year for England’s Test side, the trend will probably continue (Spoty has long since lost its lustre anyway). But there is little doubt we are watching greatness right now.
Since the start of 2021 Root has accrued 4,755 Test runs at an average of 57.9, with 18 centuries chiselled out like Michelangelo. He returned to the top of the batting rankings for the ninth time in July and is now opening up a significant gap between himself and the other members of Martin Crowe’s so-called Fab Four. When Root walks out to the middle these days, there is something approaching a sense of inevitability in a sport that dishes out far more failure than success.
This golden run of golden runs actually straddles two chapters of Root’s remarkable career. First was the final 18 months of his captaincy when, with his team spiralling downwards in the grip of the pandemic, Root realised only personal excellence with the bat could make up the shortfall. It is his current post-captaincy phase – 2,689 runs at 61.1 under the leadership of Stokes and the relentlessly upbeat environment fostered by Brendon McCullum – that speaks to that lack of ego more than any, however.
Root has returned to the ranks, shown no bitterness regarding the team’s technicolour turnaround, and, while dabbling in a spot of Bazball (before realising his classical approach trumps all), has unlocked a whole new level. Against the quicks, perhaps only Pat Cummins and Jasprit Bumrah could be said to have given him sustained headaches in recent times, while his game against spin – that remarkable ability to pick length in an instant and adjust – feels pretty peerless at the moment. If the machines were to become self-aware tomorrow and challenge the human race to a Test match, Root would surely be a lock for the No 4 position.
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As Mike Atherton remarked on commentary, underpinning this excellence – the drive to stay fit, improve and evolve – is Root’s love affair with the sport; a love that was pretty much fostered from the day he was born into a cricket-mad family in Sheffield and his father, Matt, popped a little bat in his crib.
Most heartening for England supporters, and one would hope supporters of Test cricket more broadly, is the promise of more to come. Cook retired at 33 due to miles on the clock but Root, now roughly the same age and having delivered a heat-defying masterpiece in Multan, appears utterly undimmed.
Provided the eyes stay sharp and the back stays loose, this will not be the last milestone Root passes before the day eventually comes. There is an Ashes urn to win back in just over 12 months’ time, a first Test century on Australian soil to win over the curiously unconvinced, and, who knows, perhaps even a dip at Sachin Tendulkar’s world record of 15,921 Test runs, with 3,344 still to get. Given the way he is playing, the mind clear and the movements so in sync, it looks on.
