da pixbet： At 22, Joe Root’s place in English cricket’s future already seems assured. But what lies behind the cherubic visage of the darling of the development programme?
da bet sport： Ed Kemp14-Jun-2013When a kid who’s been talked up comes into the England side there are usually questions. Where’s he from? Who does he play like? What’s his weakness? Studious faces examine him, and the game’s most well-respected brows furrow in search of clues. Evidence is compiled, positions arrived at, then debated. He may or may not make it. But, occasionally – very occasionally – there seem to be no questions to ask. Sometimes there arrives a player so immediately and effortlessly accomplished that he provides only answers. editor Phil Walker, and judging by his high-spirited praise-singing of Joe – who it seems he thought should be in the England team – he’s a firm supporter of his big brother (“That sounds about right,” says Joe. “He’d never been to India before and I think he discovered Kingfisher for the first time.”)Are they similar? “I think we’re pretty different, to be honest. Especially in styles of batting: he plays a lot of shots and is very flamboyant, and I’m kind of boring and stodgy.” In the first Test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord’s – where Joe made an accomplished 71 in the second innings – his “best mate” Billy was alongside big brother Joe in the dressing room as 12th man.The Root boys have been bred for success. Theirs was a classic cricketing childhood – dad Matt was heavily involved at Sheffield Collegiate CC, the club from where Michael Vaughan – as well as other notables – had sprung, and it was there, really, that Joe grew up. Matt had been a more than handy sportsman himself, and Joe and Billy used to follow him to all his games, constantly playing on the boundary, “getting told off for whacking it on the field and fetching it off in the middle of an over. We would be badgering all the guys that had got out or were batting at 10 and 11 to come and throw at us and bowl at us in the nets. It was a good atmosphere and a good place. I remember just loving going to watch my dad.”And the older brother’s thirst for batting was unquenchable even then. Driven on by his family’s tireless support, he made his first hundred at 11 (“It was a school game and the smallest boundaries ever, you could block it for four – it was perfect for me”) and now, reflecting on the England debut, Root says, “It was really pleasing to see how happy ) Like I say, you’ve got to enjoy your cricket – on and off the field! I think I can be quite cheeky at times. I like to keep people on their toes. As I’ve been on the wrong end of a few things growing up, it’s nice to give a bit back to the rest of the lads!What sort of stunts do you pull?
I don’t want to give any secrets away, I’ll just keep that in the dressing room. But I’m sure you’ve played cricket before so you can imagine some of the stuff that goes on.Well, I hope it’s not as disgusting as some of the things ) Yeah, but you…
Joe: () Can’t score ’em in there, can you?
Jack: You have got to stay in to get runs.
Joe: You’re dead right.A lesson fastidiously taught in Yorkshire, and well learned by this one. Already he seems destined to bestride the global stage for the majority of his cricketing life, an international superstar; very possibly, one day, his country’s captain. But he is undeniably rooted here: in his parochial heartland – he is a Yorkshire lad, even more: a son of Sheffield, and Sheffield Collegiate CC. Things are now moving very quickly in his young life, but, for the moment at least, Joe Root knows very well where he’s come from. And based on what he’s shown us so far, we can all be pretty confident about where he’s heading.