Skipper Root prepares to deliver on childhood dreams
As an 11-year-old Sheffield schoolboy, Joe Root tuned out his teachers and daydreamed about making it as an England cricketer.
Now the country’s Test captain is preparing for a year which could deliver beyond his wildest adolescent reveries.
Root was always tipped for the top, a youngster of uncommon sporting prowess with the temperament and ambition to match, and at 26 he finds himself as the country’s foremost player and centrepiece of grand designs at home and abroad.
In June, England will attempt to win their first major 50-over tournament in the Champions Trophy on home shores and Root will go in as the team’s prize scalp.
Thereafter he will make his bow in the skipper’s blazer, against South Africa and the West Indies, before heading Down Under for a potentially career-defining Ashes tour.
The challenges ahead are huge, the rewards on offer irresistible. And to start it all he made the trip back to Dore Primary School, delivering a bashful assembly and a few batting tips for the next generation.
Speaking as an unseasonal blast of snow fell on the his one-time playground, summer silverware and the Sydney Test may have seemed a world away but Root insists it was always part of the plan.
“That’s what I did, I sat over there somewhere looking out the window and got told off for not concentrating because that was all I would think about,” he reminisced.
“This was my year six classroom. When we behaved well we had Oasis on for five minutes at the end of the day.
“Coming from a cricket family as well, I spent my weekends going to watch cricket and whacking balls around on the sideline. The school was very good at making sure we had opportunities in all sports.
“We had the opportunity to try a lot of sports: Aussie Rules, rugby, lacrosse.
“The Sheffield Eagles came in once.
“It was very good at giving us the chance to try something different and give us chances from a young age. The more that can be encouraged, the better for sport. It is great to see this school embrace that attitude and hopefully that can be infectious.”
In a Q&A with the children Root confessed to being bad at maths and favouring art but his education at Dore, whose walls are emblazoned with messages about Syrian refugees and positive messages of respect and good citizenship, extends beyond traditional subjects.