Joe Root

[Quickenthetempo]

12473 Test runs, means he goes past A Cook record and he becomes the top Test run scorer for England.

Brought up with a great straight on drive along the floor.

What a great player.

[MrTopTier]

Tremendous achievement.
Brilliant cricketer.
Well done Joe.

[ClaretTony]

Absolutely world class is Root - is there a better batsman playing right now?

Great achievement for him.

[Bosscat]

Roooooooooot ...

Just heard this on the radio ... fantastic achievement ... Well done Joe Root

[Buxtonclaret]

All Time great, is Joe.
Can't help but wonder what that total would be had he not captained England.

[BurnleyFC]

He’s a Rolls Royce of a batsmen.

Tremendous technique and temperament.

[Burnley1989]

All Time great, is Joe.
Can't help but wonder what that total would be had he not captained England.

Whilst I'm wondering the same, I guess you've got to remember he's also been very lucky with injuries.

He still has a good chance of getting that top spot from Sachin, he will certainly take him close

[Buxtonclaret]

Whilst I'm wondering the same, I guess you've got to remember he's also been very lucky with injuries.

He still has a good chance of getting that top spot from Sachin, he will certainly take him close

It was Sachin I was thinking about when my friends & l were on about Joe over the weekend.
And, yep. He's had a couple of injuries too.

[pushpinpussy]

Absolutely world class is Root - is there a better batsman playing right now?

Great achievement for him.

Virat Kohli.

[ClaretTony]

Virat Kohli.

I’m not so sure right now

[HalifaxClaret]

Alright for a Yorkshireman I suppose.

[RammyClaret61]

And a century!

[IanMcL]

Superb achievement. Cook was way out there.

[DesmondHaynes]

England’s greatest ever batter.

[DAVETHEVICAR]

Wonderful batsman - perhaps our best ever and that includes Alistair Cook who was also a great captain and leader.
Also Alistair a Fabulous Mate of our Wonderful Jimmy Anderson

[ClaretTony]

England’s greatest ever batter.

He’s probably right up there with some of the greats now.

[LeadBelly]

Great effort from him in this innings. Out there for a total of 457 minutes so far in those temperatures.
176 runs, 12 fours so he's run 128 of those (as well as all the (non-boundary) runs others have hit- around 200 more I think). Makes my calves hurt thinking about that. Great physical effort- never mind the application of skill/concentration.

Definitely up with the all-time best of English batsmen, no question in my mind (and I'm not prone to judging Yorkies leniently )

[Quickenthetempo]

He's certainly the best English batsman since Gooch that I have seen.

[pushpinpussy]

I’m not so sure right now

The thing with Kohli is that he does it in Tests, one day internationals where he has 50 hundreds and T20 internationals. He’s also got the added pressure of being one of the most famous people in India.

[ClaretTony]

He's certainly the best English batsman since Gooch that I have seen.

Been a lot of really good batsmen over the years and Gooch was one, as were May & Cowdrey in the late 50s/early 60s, but Root is just getting better and better.

[Bordeauxclaret]

It would be a surprise if he didn’t go past Tendulkar in the coming years.

[Anonymous Claret]

Well done Joe Root.
It's hard to gauge who is the greatest English batsman because of the different eras that they all played.
There have been a lot of very good English batsmen since I started watching cricket including Atherton, Boycott, Gower, Lamb and KP etc. but there have only been 3 greats in Gooch, Cook and Root.
IMO Root is the best of the lot and not just because he has scored the most runs and has the best average.
He just needs to notch a century or two down under to get that monkey off his back and help bring The Ashes back home.

[bobinho]

Fabulous achievement. Really good to watch when he’s in full control at the crease.

[Quickenthetempo]

The thing with Kohli is that he does it in Tests, one day internationals where he has 50 hundreds and T20 internationals. He’s also got the added pressure of being one of the most famous people in India.

In tests only, Kohli has scored just 2 100s in the last 5 years.
Averaging around 33 in that time.

[Quickenthetempo]

Been a lot of really good batsmen over the years and Gooch was one, as were May & Cowdrey in the late 50s/early 60s, but Root is just getting better and better.

May and Cowdrey were before my time and it's hard to compare era's but Gooch played against some fabulous bowlers.

Harry Brook has the potential to go beyond any of our batsmen, if he takes Test cricket as priority.
He has a bit more to his game and finds it so easy. Just got to do it consistently over long periods.

[ClaretTony]

May and Cowdrey were before my time and it's hard to compare era's but Gooch played against some fabulous bowlers.

Harry Brook has the potential to go beyond any of our batsmen, if he takes Test cricket as priority.
He has a bit more to his game and finds it so easy. Just got to do it consistently over long periods.

Brook looks a bit special. In terms of past players, Gooch really does have to be up there too.

[Clarets4me]

Well done to him ...

When he was growing up, he attended King Ecgbert School in Sheffield. He won various school awards for sport there but after a great year, he was disappointed to be passed over for the " Sportsperson of the year " award ... When being consoled by his parents, they asked " Who won ? ", a dejected Joe replied, " Some older girl called Jessica Ennis " ...

[boatshed bill]

Brook looks a bit special. In terms of past players, Gooch really does have to be up there too.

Gooch was brilliant, after what i remember as a bit of a dodgy start.
I used to really enjoy David Gower's batting back then.

[ClaretTony]

Gooch was brilliant, after what i remember as a bit of a dodgy start.
I used to really enjoy David Gower's batting back then.

More than a dodgy start. If I remember correctly he got a pair on his debut.

[Clarets4me]

Gooch was brilliant, after what i remember as a bit of a dodgy start.
I used to really enjoy David Gower's batting back then.

Gooch scored 0 and 0 on his test debut against the 1975 Australians at Edgbaston in 1975, he played in the next Test at Lords where he scored 6 and 31, and was not seen again until 1978 ... after that, his average improved markedly ...

[ecc]

This won't be popular with many people but I still think Boycott was the best batsman from a technical point of view. Clearly in terms of defending his wicket.

But the game has changed so much. More runs are scored in today's Test cricket.

We know Brealey owed his inclusion above all because he was a magnificent captain but an opener averaging 22.88 in 68 Test innings would be laughed at today.

[Hibsclaret]

In order to be considered as among the best of all time you need to really be averaging 50+. So that discounts the likes of Cook or Boycott for example. This is why Root’s achievement is so good tbh.

As for Boycott not being a popular reference he was the antipathy of a team player and so whatever he achieved in terms of personal figures he’d have been better suited to an individual sport rather than a team sport.

[ecc]

In order to be considered as among the best of all time you need to really be averaging 50+. So that discounts the likes of Cook or Boycott for example. This is why Root’s achievement is so good tbh.

As for Boycott not being a popular reference he was the antipathy of a team player and so whatever he achieved in terms of personal figures he’d have been better suited to an individual sport rather than a team sport.

Appreciate what you say, Hibsclaret. It was well known a lot of Yorkshire committee members didn't want him as capain because of his self-centred approach.

I still think that openers shouldn't be judged purely on their averages as the fundamental part of their role is to see of the first salvo from the fast bowlers and deteriorate the condition of the ball.

They enable the more attacking players to have a platform which enables them to be aggressive.

But I'm an old man.

[Dressinggown]

Currently 255 not out v Pakistan

[claretonthecoast1882]

There has currently been 1672 balls bowled in this test match and Root has been on the pitch for everyone of them one bar 8