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Joe Root in action. (AP photo)
With his knock of 138 runs against Australia in the second Test of The Ashes at the Gabba in Brisbane, England batsman Joe Root scored his 40th hundred in Test cricket. It was Root’s first hundred against Australia in Australia and with his first Test century in Australia, Root has answered critics as well fans across the world. The England batsman, who is currently placed second in the all-time run getters list in Test cricket behind Sachin Tendulkar, took 30 innings in Australia to score his maiden Test hundred in Australia. With England placed at five for 2 when Root came out to bat on Thursday, former England captain Michael Atherton has termed Root’s innings as ‘innings of his life’.
“What matters to him more than anything, is scoring crucial runs at a critical time. He was in for the 16th ball of the innings, at 5-2, so it could have gone horribly wrong.
With Mitchell Starc knocking back (Ben) Duckett and (Ollie) Pope for ducks, all those memories of Perth flooding back, but then England’s greatest run-getter played the innings of his life – because everything is on the line here. You listen to Ben Stokes, he was asked that question at the toss, ‘is this your most important game as England captain?’ He said it is, and never has he needed Root more.” Atherton said on Sky Sports Cricket’s ‘Ashes Daily’ Podcast.
Prior to The Ashes this year, Root had scored a total of 892 runs in 14 Tests in. Australia with an average of 35.68 in Australia, his lowest of any country where he has batted in more than twice in his career. With Root taking 30 innings to score his maiden Test hundred in Australia, it also meant that Root is now the fifth cricketer in the world to take 30 or more innings to score a Test hundred in Australia with Ian Healy 941), Bob Simpson (36), Steve waugh (32) and Gordon Greenidge(32) in that list. It was also the fourth time that Root scored a hundred on the opening day of an Ashes Test during his Test career. Root scored his 40th Test hundred with a boundary off the bowling of Scott Boland on Thursday and the England batsman celebrated his hundred with his parents applauding from the stands. “It’s been a long time coming. The reaction when he got to a hundred, I thought it was such a fantastic moment of theatre.The whole ground stood to him, Aussies and English people, and the decade of disappointment put to one side.It was a rather funny reaction from Root, almost as if to apologise for having taken so long to get the hundred,” Atherton added.
Out of his 40 Test hundreds, Root has scored 14 hundreds on the opening day of a Test match and sits only behind former Australia batsman Ricky Ponting (17) in that list. While Australia media had termed Root as ‘Average Joe’ in the run-up to The Ashes, former England captain Nasser Hussain showered his praise on Root and termed Root as ‘far from average’. “He was far from average Joe today. Let’s get it crystal clear, he is one of England’s all-time greatest batters and he deserved that moment, that day today. I very rarely get nervous watching present-day cricket, but I did get nervous today. He’s got 39 Test hundreds before today, and none of those I was worried about, but I was worried about this one, simply because of its significance, because of the hype, because of the chat.” Hussain said on the podcast.
English (US) ·