England batter Joe Root is going through one of the most exceptional phases of his career as a Test player. He is part of modern cricket’s Fab Four which include Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith; all of whom have fewer runs than him in Tests. Recently, Root also became England’s leading scorer in terms of Test centuries surpassing Alastair Cook’s record from last month with 33 centuries to his name thus far. Last week, English side suffered an eight-wicket loss against Sri Lanka in their third and final Test where Root only managed scores of 12 and 13 in two innings.
On analyzing the match, former England captain Michael Vaughan expressed his disappointment over England’s performance with bat during their third Test. Vaughan who played 82 Tests pointed out how England have been depending too much on Root.
“This week really hit home to me how important Joe Root is to this batting lineup. His batting is the key. All these flamboyant players around him get flamboyant fifties. But without the glue at No 4 getting the huge amount of runs he does, they are knackered.,” wrote Vaughan in his column for Telegraph newspaper.
For Vaughan, it is clear that Root cannot always save his team from defeat; moreover he highlighted some of his fighting against Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and Captain Cummins from Australia. Vaughan also mentioned Root not being able to register a century in Australia despite having so many otherwise out there.
“He can’t do it every week, and he didn’t this week. Jasprit Bumrah relishes bowling at Root, and could do so to disastrous effects next summer. The same applies for Pat Cummins in Australia where Root has never gotten a three figure score. When he doesn’t contribute greatly with the bat, England must have alternatives for achieving their objectives. Going by this match alone, they do not have any now,” he said.
For Root, Australia has always been an unkind continent with 14 tests played there without getting a century. Still down there, he has made nine fifties in total amounting to 892 in all with a mean of 35.68.
