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Zampa, Swepson, Jonassen and Tye are among those who will now have to postpone their big day

Daniel Brettig03-Apr-2020Since time immemorial, April has been wedding season for Australia’s cricketers, after the end of the season and before winter’s chill takes full effect.This year, however, the tally of delayed weddings provides yet another measure of the toll of the COVID19 pandemic, as best-laid plans are put off indefinitely, or at least until the end of next summer.No fewer than eight Cricket Australia or state contracted players have chosen to delay their nuptials due to strict restrictions on public gatherings, which in Australia limit the size of weddings to five people in total – the two participants, the pastor or celebrant, and their witnesses.Australian men’s wrist spinner Adam Zampa and women’s left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen are among the group, while Jackson Bird, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, D’Arcy Short, Katelyn Fryett and Alister McDermott are the others. All had scheduled their weddings for April or thereabouts, forcing postponements until such a time as they can enjoy their big days as originally planned.There are others not in quite the same company, having recently become engaged and now in planning for weddings to take place at a yet to be decided date. These include Glenn Maxwell and Pat Cummins, who said that he would now be far more involved in wedding plans on account of not having any cricket immediately in front of him.”First of all it means that I’ll have to be more involved with the plans because I am around more, which is good,” Cummins said. “No we’re lucky. Obviously just got engaged, so hopefully most of this would have blown over by the time our wedding comes around.”I really feel for a couple of close mates here like Adam Zampa who had to delay their weddings. It’s really tough times. So nothing’s hopefully changed too much from our point of view with that. Obviously bigger things at play.”Cummins’ fiancee Becky Boston is English, and he said his heart went out to all cricketers and families experiencing an even greater interruption than those to wedding plans – that of the start of the northern summer cricket season. He also noted the awful scenes in Italy and Spain, where coronavirus has taken a much harsher toll than that experienced so far in Australia.”It’s awful seeing things like – Italy and Spain, but now America and the UK in recent days – it’s just crazy how quickly it’s developed,” Cummins said. “Obviously got a lot of family over in England at the moment, speaking to them regularly – first of all making sure they’re staying indoors. But they’re all- it just seems like what we’re doing here but on an even more intense scale.”They’re really staying at home, trying to do all the right things. It’s obviously moving so quickly, so I think we’re scheduled to go over there in June I think it is. It’s still 3 months away, just have to wait and see. I know no call has been made on that either way, but I guess unless things improve, I can’t really see many tournaments going on anywhere in the world for a little while.”So just sit back and wait. Obviously wish everyone in England the best, especially from a cricketer’s point of view, speaking to a few close mates who play county cricket over there – they’ve gone through the whole pre-season and geared up for the start of their summer and they’re staring down the barrel of potentially their whole summer of cricket being over. So obviously the health risk is a big one, but those guys basically have to put their careers on hold.”Other nations, too, have seen wedding plans interrupted. In South Africa, the marriage of Lizelle Lee and Tanja Cronje was slated for April 10, but is now on hold.

Batsman had been due to spend full summer playing county cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jun-2020Sussex have announced that Australia batsman Travis Head’s contract with the club has been deferred to 2021.Head, who was due to play across all three formats in the 2020 season, has worked under Sussex’s head coach Jason Gillespie at the Adelaide Strikers, and was set to become the latest in a line of players to represent both teams, after Alex Carey, Chris Jordan, Rashid Khan and Phil Salt.He had initially been recruited to play for the county last summer, but the move fell through after he was named in Australia’s Ashes squad, meaning Carey was signed instead.The ECB announced last week that no professional domestic cricket would be played until August 1 at the earliest, and while plans are being drawn up to stage a reduced Championship and T20 Blast competition, the majority of counties have cancelled or pushed back contracts for their overseas signings due to uncertainty over international travel and as a cost-cutting measure.Gillespie said that Sussex were “delighted” that Head had committed to playing for the club next year. “It is clear that this season is going to be difficult and we are keen to develop a longer-term relationship between Travis and the club, so this suits both parties,” he said.Head added: “Whilst it is very disappointing, it is clear that there are many difficulties surrounding the 2020 English domestic cricket season and we all agree this is in the best interests of all concerned.”

England offspinner attributes Test return to talking about depression

Valkerie Baynes19-May-2020You’re 22 years old and you’ve already played two Tests for England but you’re sitting in your county changing rooms, having been dismissed cheaply at the business end of the Championship season. How do you tell your team-mates that you don’t care how you got out, you’re not bothered about the match, that this flood of tears is way, way more than frustration at losing your wicket?Dom Bess knows, you just say it.”Talking was absolutely gold,” Bess says. “This stigma of men being not allowed to say anything and not allowed to show their feelings is a load of absolute rubbish.”Since that day at Taunton last September, Bess has played two more Tests, snaring a five-for with his offspin against South Africa to help England to victory at Port Elizabeth. He was set to feature heavily on Sri Lanka’s spin-friendly pitches when England’s squad headed home amid the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March, just days before their two-Test series was due to start in Galle.Bess also, very recently, opened up about his battle with depression.Dom Bess has spoken out about his battle with depression•Getty Images

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, Bess downplays his inner strength at being able to ask for help and instead recognises others, like Somerset team-mates Marcus Trescothick and Steven Davies, for paving the way for the next generation to talk about what they’re going through.”It is okay to struggle if you’re a youngster and it’s okay to actually ask for help within that environment because I tell you now, I bet all your team-mates will get an arm around you and make sure you’re okay and in the dark times pull you through that,” Bess says.”If it’s not your team-mates, your mates outside of school, things like that. I just want to get it out there and make sure that people don’t think they’re alone because they’re certainly not.”That day last year while waiting to bat against Yorkshire, Bess was speaking to the team psychologist when he broke down.Dropped after those first two Tests in 2018 – he made fifty on debut against Pakistan at Lord’s followed by 49 and 3 for 33 at Headingley – Bess returned to Somerset, where he failed to secure a place in the first team and ended up on loan at Yorkshire for two seasons running. Just a handful of matches into his return to Somerset in 2019, it all got on top of him.He still managed to go out and bat, but after he drove Keshav Maharaj straight to cover for 15, the emotions flowed out again. The following morning, Bess spoke to the team doctor and head coach Jason Kerr told the playing group that their team-mate was struggling with what turned out to be depression.”I was nervous to start with,” Bess says of his team knowing. “I’d been away on loan so naturally I hadn’t been around the side for a little bit. I didn’t feel like I’d been around the squad a lot so I didn’t really want to say it to anyone and then it got to a point where I couldn’t handle it any more.”When I finally got it out, it was just like, I want people to know because I can’t be dealing with this, like this, because otherwise it could put me in a place where I never want to revisit – a very, very dangerous place.”Bess had been there before, at school. He says it feels like falling “down a spiral of stairs and I can’t get back up”.Suffering from dyslexia, Bess found school “hell” at times and the pressure of his academic difficulties first came to a head there.”I always hated reading in front of my school mates, I sort of froze,” he says. “I sweat now thinking about it, the fear and what it put me through, the fact that kids were laughing at me and that fear of what other people thought, I really struggled with that. That was something I never really nipped in the bud.”When I was at school I was always under this pressure. It certainly got to a point where I’d never go again and certainly the lowest I’ve ever been, a very dangerous place, for sure. I’m very lucky to get out of that situation.”Dom Bess walking with his parents’ dog, Tilly, during the coronavirus lockdown•Getty Images

Bess is grateful that one of his teachers helped him through that time and he admits he was similarly lucky when his mental health took another downwards turn during his fledgling cricket career.Trescothick and Davies, who have both spoken openly about their own mental health, have been a huge help to Bess, and the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) put him in touch with a psychologist, which he says has been invaluable. Bess acknowledges how fortunate he is to have those resources available but most important, he says, is talking to someone.”Having that stigma that you can’t talk and you’ve just got to get on with it, is a very dangerous way,” Bess says. “That’s something I’ve learned and that’s also my biggest challenge because I do like to just suck it up and get on with it but I know that isn’t the best for me in the long term. I’ll struggle with it and then it will build up over a longer period of time … it is really important to speak.”What I went through, going to South Africa, performing well, getting back in within the squad, there was a reason why that happened and that was because I opened up to my team-mates in September when I was really struggling.”

The West Indies coach also bemoaned his side’s failure to convert fifties into hundreds

Matt Roller21-Jul-2020West Indies coach Phil Simmons has admitted that he is “concerned” by the form of John Campbell and Shai Hope, and will consider making top-order changes ahead of the third Test.Campbell and Hope both fell cheaply on the final day of the second Test, and have made 52 and 57 runs respectively in four innings each in this series. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Simmons also bemoaned West Indies’ failure to convert fifties into hundreds throughout the series, and said that changes would have to be discussed.”[Campbell and Hope’s form] is something that we have to discuss over the next couple of days, and make a decision as to which direction we go there,” Simmons said. “You’re right, they haven’t fired, so we’ve got to take that into consideration.”We’ve had five or six half-centuries [in this Test] and no conversion. It’s something that we’ve been talking about a lot, and no one has taken up that opportunity in this game, yet again. It is disappointing.”It’s critical that our batsmen carry on and make big hundreds. [Ben] Stokes made 176, what’s-his-name [Dom Sibley] 120-odd. Our batsmen need to make hundreds, because our bowlers have been doing their job. Now the batsmen need to stand up and do what they have to for West Indies cricket.”ALSO READ: Why Hope’s Headingley opus might not sustain him much longerIn particular, Simmons said that he was disappointed with Hope’s form. Captain Jason Holder had backed Hope coming into the second Test, saying that he had “all the confidence that Shai Hope will deliver”, but scores of 25 and 7 only extended a miserable run of form that has seen him make 111 runs at 12.33 in his last ten Test innings.”Yes, I’m concerned,” Simmons admitted. “He’s gone four innings without a score, in contrast to how he played over the last five, six months in the other formats. I am concerned about his form, and we’ll be sitting down and chatting about that over the next couple of days.”Simmons added that the moment he thought anyone was playing for their place in the side rather than for the team, they would be dropped.”If I think you’re more concerned about your current form than what you can do for the team, then you can think about your current form on the sideline,” he said. “So far, everyone has been looking to work hard for the team, and if someone changes that train of thought, then he’s not there for the team and we’ll have to think about that very, very seriously.”Phil Simmons admitted he is “concerned” by Hope’s form•Getty Images

While Campbell’s batting is the main concern, Simmons also criticised his fielding, after he dropped Stokes in the second over of the final day. Stokes was on 29 at the time, and went on to add 48 more runs off his next 34 balls to put England into a commanding position.”If you go out and drop him [Stokes] within six balls [11] of the start, well then you’ve got problems,” Simmons said. “It’s our doing that he had the opportunity to go on and show what he’s made of.”The West Indies management had previously suggested that they would consider adding players from the reserves to the 15-man squad ahead of the third Test of the series, depending on how the series panned out.The back-up batsman in the main squad is the uncapped Nkrumah Bonner, but the management will discuss alternatives in the coming days. Left-handed Shayne Moseley is the most experienced opener in the reserves, and there may also be a temptation to include the 22-year-old Joshua Da Silva. He made 189 unbeaten runs at the top of the order in the second intra-squad warm-up match.There may be some workload management for West Indies’ seamers too, after the visitors decided to pick an unchanged XI for the second Test. Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach have bowled 69.5 and 80 overs respectively in the series so far, and with only three days’ recovery time after back-to-back Tests, there may be little choice but to rotate.”I have no regrets,” Simmons said, when asked about the decision to pick an unchanged team. “We did well, we won the Test match before, and looking at the squad and the team we played in that Test match, we were happy with the team we went in with.”Simmons also reacted sharply when a journalist described Gabriel – who struggled for rhythm on the first morning and was off the field for some time on the second day – as looking “stiff”.”I don’t know about Shannon being anything,” he said. “Shannon bowled at good pace in every spell he bowled, even last night.” He did, however, concede that the team would keep an eye on the quick in the lead-up to the third Test. “We’ll have to take things into consideration over the next couple of days, and then make a decision.”Uncapped Chemar Holder and bowling allrounder Raymon Reifer are the back-up seamers in the main squad, but West Indies may well include offspinner Rahkeem Cornwall for the third Test.

The pathway event for the 2023 World Cup had already been postponed once

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Aug-2020A pathway event for the 2023 ODI World Cup has been postponed for a second time due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The second event of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Challenge League A, whose winners were to play the 2022 World Cup Qualifier, had already been rescheduled from March and was due to be held between September 30 and October 10 in Malaysia. It now stands postponed once again.The teams that formed part of League A include Canada, Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore and Vanuatu.ALSO READ: The road to World Cup 2023: How teams can secure qualification, from rank No. 1 to 32“The ICC’s priority continues to be to protect the well-being of players, coaches, officials, fans and the whole cricket community,” said the ICC’s Head of Events Chris Tetley. “As a result of this we have fully assessed the situation in partnership with the Malaysia Cricket Association and participating Members with ongoing international travel restrictions, global health concerns still prominent and on government and public health authority advice in relation to COVID-19 we have decided to postpone the event.”Earlier, the World Cup League originally slated to be hosted in the USA from April 1 to 9 this year was also postponed in light of the pandemic. Last month, the ICC had shifted the 2023 World Cup from the original February-March window to October-November in order to facilitate qualifying for the event, including the ODI Super League.

The BCB chief wants to see the 2019-20 and 2020-21 DPLs held in the same season

Mohammad Isam28-Sep-2020The BCB has given a green signal to restart domestic cricket for the first time in six months in Bangladesh. Board president Nazmul Hassan said on Monday they are considering an introductory tournament before completing the unfinished 2019-20 Dhaka Premier League (DPL) season and holding the rest of the 2020-21 domestic competitions.The update came during the same press briefing in which Hassan announced the postponement of the Sri Lanka tour again. It effectively means that Bangladesh are unlikely to have any international cricket until the scheduled home series against West Indies in January 2021.Usually, the domestic season in Bangladesh starts in October, which makes it likely that if not all, at least the top cricketers in the country will have competitive cricket soon.Hassan said that the national cricketers would continue training for the next two weeks, which would be followed by three practice matches – two two-day games and a three-day match. By then, they would have formulated the initiating tournament, which is likely to be T20s.ALSO READ: Bangladesh begin preparation for Under-19 World Cup title defence“Our Covid situation hasn’t improved to the point that we can start everything normally. But we are going to start [domestic] cricket,” Hassan said. “The national team will resume their training camp for the next 15 days and will play three practice matches.”Soon afterwards, we will start domestic cricket. We have two plans in front of us immediately: we can [either] have a six-team tournament to involve up to 90 players, or, we can make three or four teams from the national team, the HP [High Performance] team and the Under-19 teams, and then have a BCB-sponsored T20 tournament among them.”Once the players get used to competitive cricket, the truncated leagues from last season will resume – but with proper pandemic guidelines in place so that the BCB can ensure the health and safety of players.”We will resume the [incomplete Dhaka Premier] league once I have the proposal about running the leagues by keeping the players safe,” Hassan said. “It is very important for us. The clubs and players must sit together and give us a plan, and then we will give them a guideline.”Hassan said that he would personally like to see the 2019-20 and 2020-21 DPLs held in the same season, although it has never been done before.”We will try to resume the postponed league and then hold next season’s league as well. I personally want to hold both leagues this season, but it is difficult to predict anything [with regards to the Covid-19 situation],” he said.

The Kings XI are at the bottom of the points table with just one win from six games

Deivarayan Muthu09-Oct-20207:09

Have KKR sorted out their batting order?

Big picture

Having managed a solitary win in six games, the heat, both literally and figuratively, will be on the Kings XI Punjab when they run into the Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday afternoon in Abu Dhabi. Against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday, they beefed up their bowling attack and threw left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh into the death, but they still ended up conceding 201. The move also stretched their tail, leaving them with four potential No.11s – and Mohammed Shami – in their last five. Their coach Anil Kumble revealed during the game that the team management had planned to bring in Chris Gayle, but a bout of food poisoning ultimately ruled him out of the XI. If he recovers in time, he is likely to replace Glenn Maxwell, who has laboured to 48 runs in six innings at an average of 12 and strike rate of 85.71.Gayle’s return might not necessarily give the Kings XI the balance that they’re searching for, but it could ease some pressure off captain KL Rahul, who has started slowly and then struggled to accelerate this IPL. Does the T20 legend still have it in him to deal with the fiery pace and bounce of Pat Cummins, who usually bowls three overs in the powerplay for the Knight Riders? The 41-year-old had pulled out of the CPL, for personal reasons and hasn’t played any competitive cricket since the Bangladesh Premier League in January.The Knight Riders, on the contrary, seem to have identified their best XI and are sitting in the top half of the points table. This, despite Dinesh Karthik and Sunil Narine, the opener, not quite hitting full tilt, and Kuldeep Yadav being left out or not bowling his full quota when he’s in the XI. Against the Super Kings, Narine entered at No. 4 and prevented MS Dhoni from using Ravindra Jadeja. If the Knight Riders once again opt to bat Narine in the middle order, then he and Eoin Morgan could make life difficult for Ravi Bishnoi and Singh in the middle and end overs.

In the news

• It remains to be seen if Gayle is fit for this fixture.
• Rahul said that he has been impressed with the uncapped Ishan Porel’s bowling in the nets and that he would get a look in at some point. Is that some point Saturday against the Knight Riders?

Likely XIs

Kings XI Punjab: 1 KL Rahul (capt), 2 Chris Gayle/Glenn Maxwell, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 8 Ravi Bishnoi, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Sheldon Cottrell, 11 Arshdeep SinghKolkata Knight Riders: 1 Rahul Tripathi, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Andre Russell, 6 Dinesh Karthik (capt&wk), 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Pat Cummins, 9 Kamlesh Nagarkoti, 10 Shivam Mavi, 11 Varun ChakravarthySunil Narine played a useful cameo from No. 4 against the Chennai Super Kings•BCCI

Strategy punts

• The Kings XI don’t have too many death-bowling options, so they could well try Shami again and attack Morgan and Andre Russell with some extra pace and bounce. Shami has dismissed Morgan once in five balls in T20s, but Russell has the wood over the seamer, with 84 runs off 31 balls while being dismissed just once. However, Shami is still the Kings XI’s best bet against the Knight Riders’ power-packed middle order.
• Narine was reserved for the death against Dhoni in the Knight Riders’ previous match, but there’s a case for him to take the new ball against the Kings XI. Rahul has a strike rate of 231 against Narine in T20 cricket, but the spinner has taken out Gayle five times while giving up 153 runs off 177 balls. Agarwal, too, hasn’t got on top of Narine although the sample size is smaller: 19 runs off 16 balls, one dismissal.

Stats that matter

• The Kings XI have the worst economy rate at the death (13.44) and the third-worst economy rate in the powerplay (8.02)
• Nicholas Pooran has struck at 156 against Narine in T20 cricket. Only his Kings XI captain Rahul (233), David Warner (159) and Tamim Iqbal (157) have a greater strike rate against Narine (minimum of 36 balls faced).
• Cummins has an economy rate of 6.75 in the first six overs. Among bowlers who have bowled at least ten overs in the powerplay this IPL, only T Natarajan, Anrich Nortje and Shami have fared better than Cummins. Cummins is also one away from 100 T20 wickets.
• Russell is one strike away from 300 T20 wickets.

The legspinner took 2 for 8 in four overs as the Tuskers stumbled to 105 all out

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Dec-2020How the match played outThis was the least competitive match of the tournament so far. After the early overs, the Kandy Tuskers never seemed capable of producing a serious challenge to the Colombo Kings. The Kings chased down a target of 106 with 35 balls and seven wickets to spare.The Tuskers’ strongest period in the game was their batting Powerplay. Their top-scorers of the tournament – Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis – were out cheaply, but Rahmanullah Gurbaz struck 34 off 21 to help his side to a run rate of 9 by the end of the Powerplay. Then the middle order went to pieces. Brendan Taylor was trapped lbw by Angelo Mathews for 3 in the sixth over. Asela Gunaratne was also lbw, to Qais Ahmad, less than three overs after that. Only one boundary was struck between overs six and ten.The Tuskers, who don’t have the deepest batting order, kept losing wickets through the middle overs, and limped into over 17 at 94 for 6. The last four wickets went down in a heap. From the halfway point of the innings, only four fours were struck. Outside of Gurbaz’ innings, the Tuskers managed only eight fours in total.The chase was the cakewalk it was always going to be. Laurie Evans was out in the third over, and Daniel Bell-Drummond and Angelo Mathews didn’t last long either, but Dinesh Chandimal was playing a slow-burn innings, and was eventually joined by Ashan Priyanjan, with whom he struck up an unbroken 56-run partnership. Neither batsman scored at more than a run-a-ball. But then with such a small target to chase, why would they bother?Stars of the matchThe Kings attack is hitting form at the business end of the tournament. A day after he had been good against Jaffna Stallions, Dushmantha Chameera gave away just 17 runs from his four overs, and took the vital wicket of Kusal Perera.Andre Russell and Angelo Mathews were also good, but the best of Kings’ bowlers was Qais, whose four overs cost a stunning eight runs. He also took out Gunaratne and Dilruwan Perera to finish with two wickets.Where the teams standThe Kings become the third team to qualify for the semi-finals, after the Jaffna Stallions and Dambulla Viiking. The Tuskers are still in a scrap for that fourth semi-final position with the Galle Gladiators. The Tuskers have the advantage since they won their first match against the Gladiators, who are yet to get themselves their first win.A little over halfway through the league, though, there’s not a lot on the line in the remaining matches. The tournament organisers would have been much better off ditching the semi-finals format, and letting only the top three teams qualify for the knockouts. Teams ranked No. 2 and No. 3 could play an eliminator to play the side ranked No. 1 in the final. Maybe next year.

Freeman played 11 times for Australia and also had the distinction of scoring his first Test runs with a six

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2020Former Australia pace bowler Eric Freeman, who made his Test debut during India’s 1967-68 tour, has passed away at the age of 76.Freeman, a very successful bowler and useful lower-order batsman for South Australia, played his first Test at Brisbane in January 1968 and his opening scoring shot was a six – the first player to achieve the feat. He claimed three wickets in India’s first innings in what became a close victory for Australia after India had given themselves a chance of chasing down 395 by reaching 310 for 5.Freeman would play another 10 Tests, including two on the 1968 Ashes tour, and enjoyed a solid all-round return of 183 runs at 30.50 and 13 wickets at 30.07 during the 1968-69 series against West Indies.His final Test came on the 1970 tour of South Africa which would be their last international cricket before sporting isolation.Freeman’s career-best first-class figures of 8 for 47 helped South Australia to the 1970-71 Sheffield Shield title as he took 13 wickets in the match against New South Wales.Freeman was also an elite football player, representing Port Adelaide and he topped the club’s goalkicking list in all five of his complete seasons.After his playing days finished in the 1973-74 season he went into an extensive career as administrator, coach and broadcaster.In 2002 he was honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to sport.”Eric will forever be remembered as one of the greatest athletes South Australia has ever produced,” Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings said. “He was an allrounder in every sense of the word – powerful with both bat and ball in cricket and a prodigious goal-kicker with the Magpies in the winter months.”He remained a popular member of the cricket family after his retirement as a player with commentary roles on the ABC and junior development positions with West Torrens.”On behalf of everyone within Australian cricket, we pass on our sincere condolences to Eric’s family.”South Australia CEO Keith Bradshaw said: “Eric Freeman was supreme talent, but it was his determination and spirit that saw him rise to the elite level in two sports and represent his state with pride.”

Less than ten years on from his debut, former England captain becomes member of select club

Matt Roller03-Feb-2021 • Updated on 05-Jun-2022Taking Root
Picked as a spare batsman on the tour of India in late 2012, Root made his debut in the fourth Test at Nagpur as England prioritised his batting over Samit Patel’s all-round abilities. Root’s County Championship average of 38.95, largely as an opener, did not necessarily suggest he was a natural fit at No. 6 but he had impressed Andy Flower and Graham Thorpe with his ability against spin and dug in to score 93 runs for once out as England drew the Test and won the four-match series 2-1.Homecoming hundred
After an underwhelming return batting in the middle order in New Zealand, Root was significantly more productive in the return series in May 2013. After 111 runs in the Lord’s Test across two innings, he hit a maiden hundred in his first appearance at his home ground, Headingley, with close friend Jonny Bairstow at the non-striker’s end to congratulate him.Joe Root is congratulated on his Headingley ton by Yorkshire team-mate Jonny Bairstow•PA Photos

Ashes to Ashes
The selectors lost patience with Nick Compton ahead of the 2013 Ashes and had seen enough from Root to suggest he would be well-equipped to slot in as an opener in the first of back-to-back series. His altercation with David Warner in a Birmingham bar during the Champions Trophy had added needle to the build-up, and he made a sublime 180 in the win at Lord’s in a 3-0 series win. His first England tour Down Under was less successful: he started the series at No. 6, was promoted to No. 3 after Jonathan Trott headed home – where he made 87 at Adelaide but no other scores of note – and was eventually dropped for the Sydney Test.Kevin who?
As the dust settled on Kevin Pietersen’s axing after the 5-0 humbling, Root ended the first day of Peter Moores’ second stint as England coach unbeaten on 102, and had soon compiled his first Test double at Lord’s against Sri Lanka. In the series that followed against India, he starred with unbeaten hundreds at Trent Bridge and The Oval to finish as leading run-scorer and suggest that Pietersen’s absence from the middle order would not be felt too keenly.Joe Root became the fourth-youngest double-centurion for England•AFP

Urn returns
Root’s impressive form continued in the Caribbean, despite England’s winter being dominated by their group-stage exit at the World Cup: he hit a fluent, unbeaten 182 to set up a nine-wicket win in Grenada as the series against West Indies was drawn. With Paul Farbrace in temporary charge following Moores’ sacking and ahead of Trevor Bayliss’ arrival, there was a sense of giddy optimism during his 98 against New Zealand at Lord’s, which included a stand of 161 in 31.5 overs with Ben Stokes to lead a counter-attacking recovery from 30 for 4.He was particularly dominant in the Ashes which followed. He made a tone-setting 134 in Cardiff on the first day of the series – having been dropped second ball by Brad Haddin – and compiled 130 in the first innings at Trent Bridge after Australia had been bowled out for 60 in the first session of the Test. As England re-gained the urn, Root’s stock was at an all-time high, evidenced by a short stint at No. 1 in the ICC’s Test batting rankings.Cook’s heir
Root had been awarded the vice-captaincy ahead of the Ashes win, though with Alastair Cook still churning out runs it did not necessarily seem as though a change of leadership would be imminent. Now becoming a senior player, Root finished second to Cook in the run charts during the Pakistan series in the UAE, and passed 50 in all four Tests in South Africa as England won 2-1. After an uncharacteristically quiet start to the 2016 summer following an exceptional individual effort in the World T20, he plundered 254 in Manchester against Pakistan – his highest Test innings, and arguably his best.Joe Root punches the air after bringing up his double-century against Pakistan•Getty Images

Transition
While England were roundly hammered 4-0 in India in late 2016, Root enjoyed an excellent series personally, showcasing his superb record against spin as he finished second to Virat Kohli in the run-scoring charts thanks to 124 at Rajkot and a half-century in each of the defeats that followed. Cook decided two months later that it was time to pass on the mantle, and Root was the natural successor. He described his appointment as a “huge honour” and became England’s 80th Test captain.False dawn
Root did his best to dispel any concerns about the effect the captaincy would have on his batting in his first innings in the job, with a pace-setting 190 at Lord’s in a crushing win against South Africa. He led from the front throughout the summer, hitting 136 against West Indies in a day/night Test, and while England’s focus was firmly on their one-day revolution after their semi-final exit in the Champions Trophy, they went into the 2017-18 Ashes with cautious optimism that Australia were beatable.Form frustrations
As preparations for the 2019 World Cup geared up, Root’s Test side took a back seat and his own form tailed off somewhat, as he averaged below 40 for seven series in a row between the tour of New Zealand in early 2018 and the end of the 2019 Ashes. England remained strong at home, beating India and Ireland and drawing with Pakistan and Australia, but overseas results were a mixed bag with a whitewash in Sri Lanka offset by defeats in New Zealand and Pakistan. Despite a handful of impressive innings, particularly his 124 in Pallekele, Root’s batting average slid well below 50 as he alternated between No. 3 and 4, and he dropped out of the top 10 in the ICC’s batting rankings for the first time.Root’s average dipped below 40 for seven series in a row•Getty Images

Approaching his peak
After compiling his first double-century as captain in the 1-0 defeat in New Zealand in late 2019, Root’s series with the bat in South Africa summed up his form over the past three years as he made between 27 and 61 in each of his seven innings. But England were beginning to look like they were his team after Chris Silverwood had taken over from Bayliss as coach, and he marshalled a young side to a 3-1 series win. He missed the first Test of the 2020 home summer on paternity leave, but returned to lead series wins against Pakistan and West Indies, by which point he had won eight Tests in a row as captain.Glorious in Galle
Root turned 30 at the end of last year, and headed into 2021 with the prospect of 17 Tests to play including home and away series against India and the start of an away Ashes series. Everything pointed at a legacy-defining year. He started emphatically, playing two of his best innings as he put up scores of 228 and 186 in the back-to-back Galle Tests and dominating Sri Lanka’s spinners with his trademark sweep.Root enjoyed a record-breaking 2021•SLC

Records tumble
His 100th Test, against India in Chennai, could scarcely have gone better as Root scored a double-hundred in a crushing win. But despite the captain’s heroic run-scoring – there were three more for hundreds for the year, at home to India at Trent Bridge, Lord’s (an unbeaten 180 in defeat) and Headingley – England were only to win one of their next 17 Tests, as discontent grew.More Ashes anguish
Root’s stellar 2021 saw him record the third-highest Test run-aggregate for a calendar year, but he could only average 32.20 in Australia during another 4-0 defeat, as his wait for an away Ashes hundred went on. He became the first captain to lead England in two series losses down under in over a century, but despite many losing their jobs in the fallout – Chris Silverwood, Graeme Thorpe, Ashley Giles included – Root stayed on at the helm for the subsequent tour of the Caribbean. He scored hundreds at No. 3 in Antigua and Barbados, but England were beaten 1-0 and he gave up the captaincy a few weeks later.Root reacts after hitting the winning runs at Lord’s•Getty Images

Root 10K
With Stokes elevated to the captaincy, as part of a new management team that included director of cricket Rob Key and freshly appointed Test coach Brendon McCullum, Root was back in the ranks for the first home Test of the 2022 summer, against New Zealand at Lord’s. Although his cheap dismissal in the first innings triggered another dismal collapse, he produced one of his finest knocks second time around, finishing on 115 not out as England sealed a five-wicket chase of 277 – in the processing joining Cook as a member of the 10,000 Test runs club.*June 5, 2022 – This story was updated from an earlier version produced for Root’s 100th Test