Roooooooooooot

11th October 2024

It is an appropriate time, I think, to refer back to a couple of my previous cricket-related blogs (both of which were reproduced in Still An Ordinary Spectator: Five More Years of Watching Sport (2017)).

In “The End of an Era” (18th November 2013), I reflected on the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar. He had played 200 Test Matches in which he had scored 15,921 runs. This is – by far – the most scored in this form of the game: the Australian Ricky Ponting, who had retired earlier the same year, comes next with 13,378.

In my speculation on whether these numbers would ever be surpassed, I stated:

I wonder if anyone will match these totals in the future: Alastair Cook perhaps, or, a little further down the line, Joe Root. Much obviously depends on whether Test cricket survives to anything like the current extent…

I had covered the general theme in another blog earlier in the year: “The Future of Test Match Cricket” (5th January 2013). In this – a less-than-optimistic piece about the sustainability of the longest form of the game – I mentioned a possible future scenario, in which the reduction in the number of Test-playing countries to three had obvious and serious implications for English county cricket.

It is highly unlikely that the 3 Test-nation model would be sustainable. England could not play South Africa or Australia every year without the novelty quickly wearing off. In turn, without the Test Match revenues, County cricket in anything like its present format would fold.

And, in 15 years’ time, instead of chasing whatever Test Match batting records Alastair Cook left behind, the veteran Joe Root would be ending his career playing for the Sheffield Steelers against the Leeds Loiners in the regional play-off of the Global 20-over Big Slog.

With hindsight, I would make two amendments to my previous text. The obvious one would be to replace South Africa with India as part of the likely surviving triumvirate of major Test-playing nations. The underlying point remains unchanged, however, given the continued threat of the riches offered in the abbreviated forms of the game to the playing resources of the West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. (The other change would be to find another brand for the Sheffield team as the Steelers is the name claimed by the city’s ice-hockey side: the Sheffield Cutlers, perhaps).

Alastair Cook ended his Test Match career with 12,472 runs for England in 161 appearances, 59 of which were as captain. Two days ago, Joe Root – in his 147th appearance (64 of which have been as captain) – broke Cook’s England record when making a double-century against Pakistan in Multan. His total now stands at 12,664 – and counting.

I concede that there is an element of self-congratulation in this blog. At the beginning of 2013, the 22-year old Joe Root had played in only one Test Match, scoring 73 and 20 not out against India in Nagpur the previous December. To have identified him then – even with an element of semi-seriousness – as a possible contender to become England’s most prolific Test Match batsman might appear to have been an unusually impressive piece of forecasting. In reality, I’m not sure that it was a particularly quirky prediction to have made, even at that time.

The analysts and statisticians are now feverishly at work attempting to forecast if and when Root might overtake Sachin Tendulkar’s record. In about four years’ time at the current rate of scoring seem to be the general consensus, although all are agreed that there are many potential pitfalls along the way – injury, loss of form, diminution of desire, etc.

I will refrain from making another prediction. Instead, I will simply join the chorus of acclaim for the achievements of this classically correct batsman, who – like his mentor, Michael Vaughan – played his early club cricket with Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club. Joe Root is another master craftsman following the White Rose path of Sutcliffe, Hutton and Boycott.

Speaking of which, there is a Keighley-born graduate of Burley Cricket Club in Wharfedale coming up on the rails. Following his triple-century in Multan, Harry Brook has already registered 1,875 Test Match runs in only 19 games.

This prompts the same thoughts as those expressed over a decade ago. Will Test Match cricket survive long enough for Brook to be able to challenge Root’s record? And, separately, would he be interested in doing so, given the attractions and rewards of the T10 and T20 forms of the game that are now available to the select few who are able to play cricket at the very highest level?