12 Facts about Joe Root - The Charismatic Yorkshireman

Joe Root is about patience, judgment, technique and extraordinary temperament. He was smirking at Mitchell Johnson at the time when the rest of England team had lost their nerves during the 5-0 Ashes drubbing. Root, a Yorkshireman, has modeled himself on Yorkshire’s finest Michael Vaughan. He relies more on precision than power behind his strokes. His patience and stubbornness at the crease had Geoffrey Boycott stating that Root reminded him of himself. Barely 25 years of age, he’s already seen as the worthy successor of Alastair Cook. He has been in prolific run-scoring form and if he continues to progress the way he has done so far, he could well go down in history as England’s leading run-scorer in Tests. Here are some interesting facts about Joe Root.

1. Born and brought up:

Joseph Edward “Joe” Root was born on 30 December 1990 in Sheffield, Yorkshire. Root is the elder son of Helen and Matt Root.

2. Family:

His grandfather captained Rotterdam in the Yorkshire league. His father also played for Sheffield Collegiate and his brother Billy is also a cricketer and plays county cricket for Yorkshire. Billy is also in the team of the Lord’s ground staff and was there to offer brotherly encouragement throughout the Test.

3. Education:

Root attended King Ecgbert School, Sheffield and later went to Workshop College.

4. Early cricketing days and inspiration:

He followed in his father’s footsteps by joining Sheffield Collegiate C.C. Former Yorkshire batsman and England captain, Michael Vaughan also learnt his trade at Collegiate and was a source of inspiration for Root. At the age of 15, Root earned a scholarship to play for Workshop College.

5. County debut:

He made his Yorkshire second team debut on 18 July 2007, against Derbyshire at Abbeydale Park. He scored 57 and put up a partnership of 133 runs for the first wicket with Adam Lyth.

6. 2009 Under 19 Cricket World Cup:

Joe Root was a part of the 2009 England U-19 team. He had an under-par series and could only score 138 runs in six matches in the tournament where England finished eighth.

7. Test debut:

In the fourth Test against India, Root became the 655th player to represent England in Test cricket, receiving his cap from former England all-rounder Paul Collingwood. Coming in as the number 6 batsmen rather than his usual position as an opener, he scored 73 from 229 balls, joint-top-scorer with Kevin Pietersen.

8. ODI and T20 debut:

Root made his Twenty20 debut in the second of a two-match series. He made his ODI debut on 11^th January 2013 against India.

9. Honors:

He was announced as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2014.

10. First and the only:

Joe Root is the first & only batsman to have made 30 plus scores in each of his first 10 ODI innings.

11. Controversy:

He was out drinking in a Birmingham nightclub at 2:30 in the morning when he got punched by Australian batsman David Warner.

12. Young prodigy:

Root is the third highest run-scorer in world cricket after 25 Tests, only behind Brian Lara and Rahul Dravid. This means that he has scored more runs than legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, and Kumar Sangakkara had done in their first 25 games. He averages more than Tendulkar, Ponting, Kallis, and Sangakkara as well. He has also scored more centuries than any of these legends.