ROOT’S RISE TO GREATNESS
Unbeaten 180 in nine-hour Lord’s show takes him past 9,000 runs
BACK in May, Joe Root — not long turned 30 — reflected on his career and quietly suggested: ‘The best is still to come.’
Perhaps he envisaged a day such as this: the sun out at Lord’s, a blue- riband Indian attack, the crowd in the palm of his hand.
For the second Saturday in succession, and for the fifth time this year, he scored a hundred of exquisite poise, scarcely erring as he earned his side an improbable lead in this engrossing second Test.
When Jimmy Anderson was bowled by Mohammed Shami’s final ball of the evening, Root was still there on 180, having done as he pleased for nine hours. He walked off to Indian congratulations. With two days to go, England — all out for 391 — lead by 27. There may be twists to come.
It would be wrong to say he had fought an entirely lone battle, as he did to keep England afloat at Trent Bridge. Rory Burns had already made 49, and there was a longawaited half-century from Jonny Bairstow, plus walk-on parts for Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali. Others are taking their captain’s cue.
But Root’s ascent to greatness recalls Ernest Hemingway’s line about how one of his character’s became bankrupt: ‘ Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.’
In 2021 alone, he has scored 1,244 Test runs; next for England is Burns on 363. Root’s average is 69; next is Burns on 33. The time will come when his team will have to do i t without him. But i t seems unlikely to be soon.
By the end of another absorbing day, he had taken his Test average back above 50, and changed the course of the game in that special way of his: always alert, never violent, finesse rather than force.
He had 48 at the start, 89 at lunch, 132 at tea, and never looked rushed, even when ramping Mohammed Siraj for four late on. The only pity was that just one Indian fielder — the good-natured Ajinkya Rahane — had applauded his century.
In tougher conditions at Nottingham, Root’s second-innings hundred effectively saved the game, holding India at bay on the fourth day before rain ruined the fifth. Here, he has given England a chance of victory after they twice looked out of contention.
First, he caught Virat Kohli at slip late on the first day, triggering an Indian collapse eventually worth eight for 97. Then, he walked out to bat after tea on the second to face a hat-trick ball from a pumpedup Siraj. Perhaps the only advantage of batting in England’s top order is that you learn how to handle a crisis, and few handle them more adeptly than Root.
This was his 22nd Test hundred, putting him level in the English pantheon with Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey, Geoff Boycott and Ian Bell. Only Kevin Pietersen (23) and Alastair Cook (33) lie ahead. Almost unnoticed, he became the second Englishman, after Cook, to pass 9,000 Test runs. He is collecting records like ike an LP fanatic.
Bairstow said: ‘To do what he’s done, to go into second place among leading runscorers in the history of the English game is very special, to pass 9,000 Test runs in t his game is extremely y special, to score another her 180 not out at Lord’s... .. I’ve run out of superlatives, to tb be honest.
‘It’s great to see him in the form that he’s in, and it’s awesome to be out there with him enjoying every single moment of it.’
It seems odd now to think of the recent concern about Root’s conversion- rate of fifties into hundreds — especially as four of this year’s five hundreds have been 180 or more. But he used lockdown well, studying all his Test dismissals from the last few years, and resolving to play the ball as late as possible, in the manner of New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.
For once, he found a sturdy ally, batting through the first session with Bairstow, his fellow Yorkshireman, after England had resumed on 119 for three in reply to India’s 364. Bairstow went into lunch with his first Test half-century in two years and 20 innings. With the pitch flat and swing negligible, Kohli might even have been tempted to give a couple of overs to ‘Jarvo’, a spectator who walked out after the interval wearing an Indian shirt and had to be removed by four unimpressed stewards.
So India were grateful when Bairstow fell into Siraj’s shortball trap, getting into a tangle on the pull and looping a simple catch to Kohli at slip. With the second new ball imminent, it was careless cricket. England still trailed by 135.
A sharp single took Root to his seventh hundred against India — equalling Cook’s England record — only for Buttler to be bowled for 23 by one that nipped back down the slope from Ishant Sharma. Ali walked out into the best batting conditions of the match matc for his first redball bal innings in this ccooun try since a county c game at New N Road in September 2019. Showing commendable restraint for a player who on Monday had battered ter a 28-ball 59 for Birmingham Birm Phoenix in the Hundred, H he helped Root Rtt tote at and beyond. At 341 for five, England were eyeing a decent lead. But Ishant was starting to find his rhythm: Ali poked to first slip for 27, Sam Curran to second for a golden duck.
After a maiden from Ravindra Jadeja to Ollie Robinson, Root thus faced up to a hat-trick ball for the second time in the innings. Again, he played it with ease. Siraj finally won an lbw shout against Robinson, before Mark Wood helped England into a lead, only to be run out by Jadeja’s bullet arm.
Bumrah struck Anderson on the helmet in an over riddled with four no-balls, but Root eked out another 20 for the last wicket as the shadows lengthened and Indian tempers shortened. His brilliance may yet ensure a grandstand finish.