Legend, leader, record-breaker
Joe Root is a special talent, with many believing he’s the best Yorkshire have ever produced. It is hard to argue considering he is only one of two players from the county to have played 100 Tests or more and has been ranked the world’s number one Test batter on numerous occasions, including in 2023.
Sir Geoffrey Boycott is the only other Yorkshireman to have played over 100 Test for England. Whisper it quietly, there is every chance Harry Brook will follow them one day.
Root is hunting down two of Sir Alastair Cook’s records; the most Test runs for England and the most hundreds. At time of writing, Root has scored 11,468 to Cook’s 12,472 and 30 tons to Cook’s 33.
Root, 33, maybe chasing some personal records, but he already stands alone following a remarkable 2021 when scored 1,708 Test runs in the year, the most ever by an Englishman.
The Sheffield Collegiate product debuted in all three formats of international cricket in 2012 and 2013 – Tests coming first in India – having debuted for Yorkshire in a 40-over game in 2009.
A one-day World Cup winner in 2019, he is a two-time County Championship winner with the White Rose (2014 and 2015) and a two-time Ashes winner. He lifted the Championship title as stand-in captain for Andrew Gale in 2014.
Root came through the Yorkshire age-groups and Academy and captained England’s Test team between 2017 and 2022.
He didn’t make a Yorkshire appearance in 2023, but he is expected to feature heavily at the start of 2024 having opted against returning to the Indian Premier League for a second year after playing for Rajasthan last April and May.
UPDATED: Feb 2024.
