Joe Root on Tendulkar, McCullum and the art of batting: 'If cricket is all about you, it's a depressing sport to play'

Illustration: Demetrius Robinson/The Athletic; Photos: George Wood, Cameron Spencer, Darrian Traynor/Getty Images Share articleThe Athletic has launched a Cricket WhatsApp Channel. Click here to join. The first thing The Athletic notices upon meeting Joe Root up close is the thickness of his forearms. Now 35 and about to embark on his 14th consecutive home Test summer, England’s greatest batter still radiates a boyish quality that no amount of stubble or crow’s feet can dim. “Do you mind if I have a quick shower?” he says as he ambles over to say hello after a morning of batting practice on a blustery but warm Headingley outfield. Firm if slightly sweaty handshake notwithstanding, there’s a gentleness to Root; old-school manners, slender shoulders and a reedy Sheffield twang. But he has the forearms of a burly lumberjack. Seriously, they are Popeye-esque. One half expects to see an anchor tattoo on each as he strolls off to freshen up. Has anyone mentioned this before? Maybe this is the scoop, the secret to his untrammelled success? They are like fleshy girders, all the better for scoring nigh on 14,000 Test runs with. But no, there’s a bit more to it than that. Ten minutes later Root emerges and, for the next couple of hours, he chats freely about life on and off the field. First to his form. He has scored 237 runs in four innings for Yorkshire this season, but told the BBC recently that he “didn’t feel great” at the crease. Even so, the ability to score runs during these periods is something Root prides himself on. “I’m always looking to evolve, to try and add things to my batting,” he says. “To make sure that I feel as compact and as technically sound as I can be so that when the actual games come around I can think tactically and play what’s right in front of me rather than worrying about technical stuff or anything else out in the middle. It sounds so simple but when I’m at the crease, I just want to be playing the game.” Does he see himself as a technician of batting? “I’d prefer the term artist,” he replies earnestly. He played his first men’s game of cricket at just eight years of age. “Batted 11, hit one four. Got hit and should have been out ‘ribs before wicket’ but finished eight or nine not out and earned myself a can of pop from one of the senior players.” Root’s parents, Matt and Helen, believe this early exposure to club cricket has been instrumental in his success. “He was so slight as a lad and he could barely hit it off the square” says Helen. “But that grounding in club cricket, playing against his own age group but also against men in quite an uncompromising environment, was definitely important in his development.” “That and the amount of throw-downs he had in the back garden,” Matt chimes in, mock rubbing his shoulder. Root junior agrees with his mother’s account. “I don’t think that sort of thing happens any more, but yes, looking back it was a big advantage playing against big blokes from such a young age. I mean, I couldn’t score runs really, I had to bat a long time to score anything, so I had to learn to stay in and find a way of doing that. Through that I developed a good technique; that stood me in really good stead. “I never take (the consistency of his form) for granted. You start on nought every time you go out and bat. The conditions, the pitch, the environment, the opposition could all be different. The state of the ball, too. It’s a completely new event, a new opportunity every time you walk out to the middle. I look at each time I go out to bat as a new chance to go and do something different in the game. “Looking at batting like that has been quite important in being able to be consistent; not getting too big headed at any stage if it is going well but not getting too down on yourself when it isn’t. Just being quite objective and realistic about things. I try to just be excited about the opportunities I’m afforded rather than the danger of a particular situation.” Root has only been dropped from the England Test side once in his career, for the final Test of the 2013-14 Ashes in Sydney. In his 2015 book he described himself as “distraught” when then captain Alastair Cook informed him. He vowed to use the feeling as a sort of wretched inspiration to ensure it never happened again. Over a decade on, does he recognise that youngster with such fire in his belly? “The more I’ve played and the more I’ve been involved in the game from a professional side of things, the more I’ve realised individual success is not what you get the most enjoyment out of,” he says. “It’s about the collective and being a part of something bigger than yourself and understanding that cricket, and batting in particular, is a game of failure. “You’re living alongside failure nearly all the time and that’s the case even if you’re one of the best players in the world. So if it’s all about you all the time, it’s a depressing sport to play.” Which brings us neatly on to catchin’ Sachin. Only Sachin Tendulkar, India’s Little Master, has scored more Test runs than Root. So how much does that play on his mind? He lets out something between a laugh and a sigh. “Well, I get asked it enough times now that I can’t really ignore it even if I try to. “It’s remarkable what Sachin Tendulkar achieved in the game. You have to believe me when I say that to even be in the conversation with him is enough for me. The guy made his Test debut before I was born and played in my Test debut! His longevity in itself is remarkable and then you look at the runs he got in Test cricket… but not only that, he’s got 50 ODI hundreds, too.” Root shakes his head in something approaching disbelief. “All the while he was the most famous man in India. Serious, serious player.” It would be cool if you got close though? Wouldn’t it, Joe?  Root lets the question slide past like a tempter outside off stump and flashes that charming smile. For a brief moment, The Athletic has an insight into what it must be like to have to bowl at him. The dust is still settling following the announcement of the England squad for the first Test of the summer. After the team’s chastening winter in Australia, it isn’t lost on Root that the upcoming series against New Zealand is symbolic. “It’s a chance for us to go out there and galvanise people behind us once again,” he says. “There are some new faces, some returning faces. There’s an opportunity for these guys to lay down some early markers and make their name in Test cricket.” At Lord’s in 2022, England’s so called ‘BazBall’ style of play began in earnest under new captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum. Having become increasingly beleaguered as Test captain during the ever shifting sands of the Covid pandemic — Root’s side had returned just one Test win in 17 matches leading to that first Test of the new regime — Root found himself back in the ranks for the first time in five years. He hit a match-winning century in the second innings to steer England to victory. “The Covid period was extremely draining but this was the start of a new era. I understood that we had an opportunity as a team to have a new voice, a new direction.” The early days of BazBall were particularly heady stuff: record-breaking run chases and a brand of entertaining, attacking cricket based on freedom, supposedly unshackled from the fear of failure. It was immediately apparent that Root was energised by it despite being the man in charge of the previous era to which BazBall was anathema, a consequence of and direct reaction to. “That’s probably my proudest hundred for England, that one at Lord’s,” he says. It’s a telling admission that says plenty about Root as player and person. It’s not like there isn’t stiff competition, either. Root has 41 Test centuries, the most of any Englishman to play the game. He is joint third on the all-time list (led, again, by Tendulkar’s 51). “No one player is bigger than the team or the environment,” he says. “It’s important that you fulfil your role within that team. Coming back in after captaincy, I was an experienced player and there was work to do. “One thing I was very conscious of was not getting in Ben’s way. It was important that he felt like it was his dressing room. His was the voice that people needed to listen to and he was the person to follow. I just wanted to make sure he knew that I had his back, that I was right in his corner and, whatever was asked of me, I was ready. “The amount of times when we were under pressure in my tenure and I’d throw the ball to him or he’d be the one who would stand up with the bat in the really big moments of games… it was my time to try and pay that back; to be that player for him that he was for me. That’s sort of been my attitude towards it was from the outset, from that Lord’s Test.” England’s Test results have fallen away in the last couple of years culminating in a 4-1 Ashes rout this winter. Does he look upon the Ashes as a missed opportunity? “Any series you don’t win, you’re going to be disappointed and you’re going to try and find areas where you could have been better.” I ask about the sense that there is now a disconnect between the team and their fans, perhaps mirroring the relationship between Stokes and McCullum. Root pauses for a moment. “The one thing that stands out and frustrates me the most is that, you know, the coaches have taken and worn a lot of the negativity around what happened this winter and, as players, we should be the ones taking the responsibility for how we performed. “We’re the ones out there, we’re the ones making the decisions and playing the game and we’re the ones who underperformed. That’s on us. They shouldn’t be the ones shouldering that.” But is McCullum too hands off? Critics see him with the shades on and feet up on the balcony and think it is emblematic of an approach that has become too casual. The coach is not yet in the country despite a post-Ashes admission that the Test setup needs to re-engage with the domestic game. Some of his former charges have alluded to not receiving the help they wanted, talented players such as Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope have flatlined and have now been dropped, while McCullum and the England managing director Rob Key have been allowed to continue. In a way, that is the players carrying the can? Root listens intently and then responds, initially haltingly. “I do think it’s slightly unfair the way things have been thrown towards that coaching group and even Ben in recent times. But… you know and I know that our performances haven’t been good enough. A lot of that has to go down to the players. We have to put that right. “What Brendon and Ben managed to create over a period of time has produced some of the best Test cricket we’ve seen for a long time. It’s been the most watchable. We’ve had amazing wins, brilliant results, at home and away. We’ve achieved things that no other England teams have done; things that have been remarkable. “A lot of that comes down to the way that Brendon manages that environment and the players. He’s opened my eyes to looking at the game in a completely different way: more tactically. For a large portion of my career I was technically minded and that would always be the thing that I fell back towards. Whereas now it’s about managing different phases of the game and thinking more tactically about how I can influence them. “Sometimes you’re not going to feel perfect at the crease, but you can still find a way of scoring runs. That’s a massive part of being consistent and successful in Test cricket. Brendon’s been very good at bringing that side of things out of me. I’d be the same as Jimmy (James Anderson) and Broady (Stuart Broad) in saying that the most fun I’ve ever had playing for England has been the last four years or so. “Obviously, first and foremost, cricket is a results game. You want to put scores on the board so you can win games. But you do also want people to turn up and be excited about watching you play. “Until we beat Australia then there’s always going to be a doubt there for a lot of people. Generally, what we’re judged on is how we’re performing against India and against Australia. Whenever you’re playing for England it’s the most important thing and we are totally focused on the here and now. We’ve got big challenges this summer and work to do too as a new phase begins almost. “But yeah, people will always have that question of us as a group until we beat India and Australia. I understand it.” Root is as grounded a sports star as you can meet in the modern age. There is no minder present or motley crew of people chivvying him along to the next appointment, or primed to jump in should he stray into even slightly contentious terrain. He lives with his wife, Carrie, and two young children in the same area of Sheffield in which he grew up, close to his parents, his grandad Don, and a stone’s throw from Sheffield Collegiate, his boyhood cricket club. He does not court the limelight in the way others in similar positions choose to. That is a conscious decision. “I never played cricket to be famous,” he says. “I played cricket because I love playing cricket. All the other stuff that goes with it is not something you choose and I wouldn’t say it’s a bonus. If anything, it’s the opposite. It’s always been about playing for me. It is this intrinsic, child-like love of the game ensures he will keep playing on and on. At least according to his teenage batting mentor at Yorkshire, Kevin Sharp. “When Joe bats he’s living in the moment,” says Sharp. “He’s not thinking of the future or the past, he’s right there in the middle and he’s having fun. He still has that deep love of the game and I know he still gets a lot of joy from it.” Root’s eyes light up at the mention of Sharp. “We worked together from when I was about 12 and had a lovely understanding of each other’s personalities,” he says. “He was always patient with me but loved challenging me. He had a massive impact on my game and in my overall development.” Root mentions the core group of people who have helped shape him into the player and person he is. “My wife is amazing. I don’t know how she does it. She copes as a single mum effectively for large stretches of time when I am way. The kids are very resilient but it does get tougher the older they get. You know, I’m surrounded by people who have made sacrifices to allow me to get where I am today.” Don ferried him and his brother Billy (a professional cricketer with Glamorgan) to and from games when they were younger. “Mum and dad were brilliant but they also worked. I wouldn’t have been able to experience half the amount of opportunities I had from a young age without my grandpa.” Now 90, Don had the alarm set without fail over the winter in order to be awake when Joe was batting. He saw his grandson score two long awaited centuries on Australian soil from the dead of night 10,000 miles away. Does Root fancy another crack at Australia Down Under? “It’d be nice to get another opportunity, but we’ll see. There’s a lot of cricket to be played between now and then (2029-30). A lot of things can happen.” And with that, time is up. Root has to pick up his daughter from school. When he is at home, he relishes being immersed in family life. “Cricket has been a huge part of my life since I can remember, but the older I’ve got the more I’ve wanted to make sure it doesn’t define me,” he says. “I don’t want it to impede on my children’s lives either. “I want them to be able to feel that they can do what they want and be the people they want to be, to have the opportunities and experiences I was afforded. Cricket’s been amazing in being able to provide a lot of things and cool experiences for us, in the game and off the back of it. We’ve shared so much as a family. I’m very grateful for that, but I’m aware that, hopefully, I’ll have an entire half of my lifespan post playing.” A few days later, The Athletic receives a voicenote from Root’s dad, Matt. He’s sat with someone who wants to have their say. “Whenever we’ve gone to watch Joseph play at Headingley we’ve been greeted by the late, great Dickie Bird. Dickie said to me recently: ‘Your Joe is the closest I’ve seen to Len Hutton.’ To people of my generation that is praise indeed.” A pause. Then the voice continues. “All I can say about Joe is, well… he’s getting there.” There’s a mischievous tone to the voice that suggests its owner knows as well as anyone that, whether it comes to Hutton, Australia or Sachin, his grandson is there already. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms