David Lloyd heaps praise on Joe Root following Old Trafford win

Former England coach and current commentator David Lloyd has heaped praise on Joe Root following the latter’s fantastic 254 in Old Trafford. Root played a wonderful innings as England claimed a mammoth 330-run victory, thereby ensuring that England squared the series 1-1 after falling behind at Lord’s. Lloyd wrote in his column on Thursday, comparing Root to the likes of Michael Vaughan and Graham Thorpe.

“I have seen a few good players in more than 50 years in cricket as a player, umpire, coach, and commentator, but Joe Root is right up there now.”

“I can’t really judge the ones who came before my time but I’ve seen the elegance of Colin Cowdrey and Peter May, the dash of Ted Dexter, the bloody-mindedness of Geoff Boycott, the bravery and skill of Graham Gooch, who was close to the complete batsman, and the silky touch of David Gower.”

“More recently we’ve had people like Michael Vaughan, who was the best in the world for a while, and one I rated very highly in Graham Thorpe. Then there is the insatiable appetite and concentration of Alastair Cook.”

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“I’ve never seen Joe play better than he did at Old Trafford. It was the way he changed gears that were so impressive. I’ve not seen anyone do that quite so well since Viv Richards and Brian Lara were around.”

“There are a group of box-office batsmen who stand out in Test cricket right now. There’s Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson — now the second best New Zealander of all time behind Martin Crowe — Steve Smith and David Warner from Australia and our Joe.”
“Joe has found his slot now. He had a go at opening, then he flourished in the middle order but now he has responsibility at three and looks very much at home there. It is where Trevor Bayliss always wanted him.”

“Root wants to add more power to his game in the shorter forms to be more like Bairstow and Jos Buttler, but he will have to manage his back condition if he is going to be around for the next 10 years and break every record in the book.”

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