ELLIS FAST FORWARDS TO BEING AN OLD RECORD-BREAKER
North-East nuggets Wood & Stokes wrap up historic series win to put Root and his golden generation on road to regaining Ashes NEW SUPER LEAGUE SEASON STARTS ON THURSDAY
gong for Stokes proves after he scored more than 300 runs, took 12 catches and 10 wickets. He was the first allrounder to achieve that treble since Sir Ian Botham in the 1981 Ashes and who would bet against it being the last?
Stuart Broad was the top wicket-taker with 14 offering plenty of support and advice for the rest of the squad.
And Root too was typically consistent with three fifties to complement the hundreds by Sibley, Pope and Stokes.
South Africa might not have had the skill and power of old but even their established players, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock, had their lives made difficult.
And for Root it puts to bed any question marks over his captaincy credentials to continue building what is his team.
“I’ve said countless times that Rooty’s the man to do it,” added Stokes. “He’s won the series 3-1 as captain, it doesn’t happen by accident.”
Indeed.
GARETH ELLIS could play on and become Super League’s oldest ever player if he shines for Hull this year.
The forward, who came out of retirement last year after 18 months in an office job, turns 39 in May.
He is only contracted for this season but Ellis (right) says former Catalans Dragons star Steve Menzies’ record could be a target next year. The Aussie hooker was three months short of his 40th birthday when he quit seven years ago, which means he cannot break it this season.
Ellis said: “I’m not sure if I want to be a 40-year-old player but Menzies could have kept playing because he was still playing well.
“I’ve told the coaching staff not to pick me if, at any point, they think I’m not better than the next guy.”
Former Great Britain and England star Ellis is convinced he’s now fitter than he was in 2017 when he retired to join Hull’s office staff.
He said: “I spent 2017 thinking about if I should retire or not and it festered away and I was almost thinking about that rather than enjoying playing.”
Ellis answered an SOS last year from coach Lee Radford to come temporarily out of retirement to cover for injuries. He did so well that (Crawley 66, Root 59, Pope 56,
22 P Malan c Stokes b Woakes ...........................
24 D Elgar c & b Stokes ...................................... 98 H Van der Dussen c Broad b Wood ................ 35 F Du Plessis b Stokes .................................... 39 Q De Kock c Woakes b Wood .......................... 27 T Bavuma c Buttler b Broad ..........................
2 D Pretorius c Curran b Broad .......................... 10 V Philander c Buttler b Wood .........................
4 A Nortje c Buttler b Wood ...............................
4 B Hendricks run out ........................................ 0 D Paterson not out .......................................... B4 lb2 w3 ................................. 9 (77.1 overs) ................................. 274 39, 89, 181, 187, 235, 239, 260, 267, 273.
Broad 10-1-26-2, Curran 11-2-380, Wood 16.1-3-54-4, Woakes 14-3-47-1, Stokes 16-4-47-2, Root 7-1-37-0, Denly 3-0-19-0 R Tucker & J Wilson he played 20 games last year and is now gearing up to try and lead Hull to silverware this season.
Radford said: “Gaz is big for us, off the field as well as on it. The more good people you have the more chance you have of success.” ■ FORMER Wigan winger Brett Dallas could be jailed after a 10th stealing offence in a year. He will reappear in court in Queensland tomorrow. (Johannesburg, Day 4) 400 Nortje 5-110) 183 (De Kock 76, Wood 5-46) (Root 58, Hendricks 5-64) 248
Mark Wood Ben Stokes