It seems like only yesterday when I predicted a great international future for a 21 year-old Yorkshireman called Joe Root. Normally such a statement is a kiss of death but it’s not often that a batsman looks so comfortable in both white and red ball cricket, especially the latter. However, that winter he made his Test debut at Nagpur, scoring 73 and 20 not out and three years later his runs had made him so indispensable that he was handed the England captaincy.
His only real flaw was a seeming inability to turn fifties into hundreds, which has been blown to pieces in recent weeks. In sharp contrast to 2020 and a few lean years before that, today’s unbeaten 128 following 228 and 186 against Sri Lanka, maintains a scintillating strain of form. Should we be surprised? Most top English batsmen struggle on Asian pitches against skilled spinners but Root has a higher batting average on the sub-continent than anywhere else, a clear sign of world-class footwork. Chennai today was apparently a batsman’s dream with even Ashwin, Bumrah et al unable to make much headway.
On top of that, there’s the headline-grabbing 20th century in his 100th Test, a landmark achieved by only twelve other England players. Many of them also captained their country. Only Ian Bell and Root’s current coach Graham Thorpe hit the milestone slightly under the radar, although Pietersen and Boycott weren’t regulars. Root isn’t the only Englishman to hit three figures on his 100th appearance, though. Colin Cowdrey did it in 1968, but I was too young to remember. Alec Stewart’s 105 against the West Indies at Old Trafford in 2000 was relatively memorable, although for me the match was more significant as the debut for my Somerset hero Marcus Trescothick! That was quite a batting line-up, too, featuring five skippers past and present, including Atherton, Vaughan and Hussain.
So
what about representatives of other nations scoring a 100 on their 100th
appearance? Javed Miandad was the first, back in 1989, closely followed by
Gordon Greenidge. Prior to Root, the most recent players to do it were South
Africans Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla. However, only one batsman marked his 100th
Test with not one, but two centuries.
Stand up, Ricky Ponting who, as skipper, fifteen years ago struck 120 and 143
not out against South Africa at the SCG..
The Aussie legend is an all-time great of cricket but could the son of Sheffield emulate Punter’s achievements? He’ll need to step up the rate of hundreds, especially on home territory. However, Ponting retired with a mediocre record in India - a solitary ton in 14 games – so Root is doing something right. He could yet go down as one of England’s finest players of spin if not of any bowling. He has at least five years left at the top level and, fitness allowing, has a chance of emulating Cook’s records of caps and hundreds. Go on, Joe: prove me right.
