If Root is to go down as a true great, he must be harder on himself

ON the third day in Melbourne we had one bloke, Alastair Cook, walking off as a national hero and another, Joe Root, throwing off his gloves and kicking his bat — almost as if he was a bit of a villain.

I believe both men will go down as two of England’s all-time greats, but the different reactions told us a lot about where they are as batsmen — and, in truth, always have been.

For Cook, it was a reminder that he can go runless for a few Tests, then come up with a big doublehundred, almost as if the rest of the series hadn’t happened.

For Root, it was the latest example of his struggles to convert fifties into hundreds. They’re both run machines, but in very different ways.

I wouldn’t be too hard on Root. Yes, he pulled a short ball to deep square leg when he had 61 and the Australians at his mercy. Yes, Cook pointed out the fielding change to him and in his own mind would have been calculating the percentage risk of taking on that shot.

But Root has now made a halfcentury in 15 of his last 17 Tests and that takes some doing. He has made batting at this level look easier than it really is. He still averages 50 as captain. It’s just that everyone holds him to a higher standard because of the talent he has. I understand that too.

The greatest batsmen — guys like Virat Kohli and Steve Smith — have excellent conversion rates. They grasp the simple fact that you don’t win Tests with pretty 50s and 60s — you win them with big hundreds or even doubles.

At some point, Root is going to have to sit down and ask himself whether he’s working out those percentages properly.

He’s got all the shots in the world. But if he wants to be remembered as one of the greats — and he has the talent — then he’ll need to be harder on himself.

This is where he can learn from Cook. You could hardly get two more different batsmen. Cook has always had a dodgy technique, while Root’s is almost flawless. And Cook has to go in against the new ball, when the bowlers are at their freshest, whereas Root has allowed himself the luxury of batting at No 4.

But while Root clearly has this in-built desire to entertain, Cook is there to score runs. He’s said himself that he’s not fussed with the aesthetics of the game, as Root obviously is — and a good thing too, because it makes cricket so much more watchable.

I don’t see Cook playing any differently from the young lad who rocked up in Nagpur more than a decade ago and scored a hundred on Test debut. He’s not added any shots or embellishments. And, crucially, he doesn’t try to go through the gears.

If you watch Cook at any stage of an innings, it’s impossible to tell whether he’s on nought or 150. He’s always willing to give the bowlers half an hour if he thinks the conditions merit it, and because he spends half his time opening the batting in seam-friendly England he knows the value of cashing in once he’s seen off the new ball.

With Root, you sense a guy who wants to go through the gears. He gets to 50 and decides it’s time to impose himself. That’s fine, and the last thing you want to do is take away the flair that allows him to get to 50 so often in the first place.

But it will be up to him now to work out which way he wants to go. Does he want to keep making attractive 60s and walking off furious with himself, or does he want to take a leaf out of Cook’s book and go for the jugular?

And who knows, if he’s harder on himself, it may help the team. Right now, England play their cricket in their captain’s image: as we’ve seen throughout this series, they miss their opportunities. They can be better than that — and so can Root.