HUNGER GAINS
Greedy Joe in the groove with record
JOE ROOT admitted his string of low scores in Test cricket had made him hungry for his record-breaking total in Hamilton.
Root produced an epic innings lasting more than 10-and-a-half hours to score 226, a record for a visiting five-day skipper in New Zealand.
It was also his personal best away from home and as England captain.
With a four Test series to come in South Africa, the sight of Root and 21-year-old Ollie Pope adding 193 for the sixth wicket suggests that the captain’s message of batting for long periods is getting through.
“I found a really good rhythm out there and felt pretty comfortable and just wanted to keep going,” he said.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had that amount of time out in the middle and you get really hungry for it sometimes.
“I felt like I got a groove going and wanted to keep it going as long as I could. I had the bit between my teeth and wanted to make it a really big one.
“It’s just nice to get back to scoring some big runs and hopefully we can finish the year off well in South Africa and take it on a real upward curve.”
Root’s third double hundred of his career also took him into the
top 10 England Test run scorers, moving past Wally Hammond’s total of 7,249, and no one has scored more runs at a better average than Root’s 7,282 at 48.54.
But from fans and team-mates expectations are high that he will top the charts in Test cricket and in the one-day game.
“There’s been different challenges this year,” he added. “It’s been unique in everything we’ve had to go through as a team, across the formats.
“Mentally to be able to finish the year strong has been quite nice.
“Ultimately it’s about results and I suppose if we win the Ashes, my form probably slips a little bit under the radar.”
There was a hairy moment when Root pushed for the quick single that took him past 200 with Pope almost being run out as he dived for the line.
Concern gave way to smiles though like they did when Root reached 150 and did a little celebration as if he were playing on a computer game.
Root said: “Jofra (Archer) thought it would be a nice thing to do. He said: ‘If you get 150, you can have my X-Box controller.’
“I thought, ‘a free X-Box controller is nice.’ It must be a good one. I don’t really play X-Box much but I’ll take it.”