Joe Root Overtakes Alastair Cook as England’s Prolific Run-Scorer
Former England captain Alastair Cook has hailed Joe Root as “a genius” after the current skipper surpassed his record for the most Test centuries by an English batsman.
Root made 103 in the second innings against Sri Lanka at Lord’s on Saturday, his second hundred of the match and his 34th overall in Test cricket, taking him clear of Cook’s former benchmark of 33.
“He is quite simply England’s greatest, and it’s absolutely right that he should have this record, on his own,” Cook, who was England’s captain in each of Root’s first 53 Tests, said on commentary for the BBC’s Test Match Special. “Take it in, Joe. We are watching a genius.”
With his twin hundreds at Lord’s, Root’s career aggregate has now reached 12,377 runs. He needs just 96 more runs at The Oval next week to overtake both Kumar Sangakkara and Cook, making him the fifth-highest run-scorer in Test history and England’s highest.
“He’s just got the final one to tick off next week,” Cook said. “In this kind of form, there’s no reason why he can’t.”
Root’s masterclass included a dominant display against Sri Lanka’s left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, with whom he scored 60 runs off just 59 balls.
“The spinner was bowling today, and quite honestly, he could have hit him wherever he wanted with absolutely no risk,” Cook said. “That is the art of batting: low-risk shots which score you runs.”
Cook first saw Root as an 18-year-old making his List A debut for Yorkshire against Essex in 2009, when he “couldn’t get the ball off the square.” But three years later, when Root made his Test debut for England, Cook was convinced he was destined for greatness.
“I saw someone mentally ready to play Test cricket,” Cook said. “The only check was when he walked out to bat for the first time, how he would handle it. I honestly said, ‘He’s scoring 10,000 runs.’ I don’t know who I said it to, but I know that I said it.”
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