Joe Root has overtaken Alastair Cook’s haul of 12,472 and become England’s leading Test run-scorer.
The former Test skipper reached – and surpassed – the milestone on Wednesday morning on day three of the first Test against Pakistan in Multan, scoring his 35th Test century in the process.
Root has been a key player for England for years, consistently scoring runs in all conditions, and his class at the crease is clear for all to see.
But England have had plenty of great batters, like Len Hutton and Kevin Pietersen so where does the Yorkshireman rank in their all-time batting hall of fame?
Here, Mail Sport’s LAWRENCE BOOTH counts down the top 10 English batsmen of all-time.
Joe Root has now surpassed Alastair Cook’s record of 12,472 Test runs to become England’s top run-scorer
Cook, in his last ever batting innings before retiring from Test cricket, walks off the field of play after losing his wicket from the bowling of India’s Hanuma Vihari
10/ Geoff Boycott: 8,114 runs at 47.72
Boycott may argue he should be higher, and it’s true that few cricketers have earned such a cult following.
In Yorkshire, many still regard him as a minor deity. Armed with one of the tightest defences in the game’s history, he was for a while Test cricket’s leading run-scorer, overtaking Garry Sobers at Delhi in 1981-82.
And his 22 centuries included one of England’s most famous: his 100th in first-class cricket, against Australia on his home ground at Headingley in 1977.
After getting there with an on-drive off Greg Chappell, he was mobbed by his adoring public, and smiled that crooked smile.
Boycott may argue he should be higher, and it’s true that few cricketers have earned such a cult following
9/ Kevin Pietersen: 8,181 runs at 47.28
His record was remarkably similar to Boycott’s, but he was chalk to the Yorkshireman’s cheese. Pietersen was one of the great innovators, switch-hitting the traditionalists to distraction, and unveiling his trademark ‘flamingo’ whip through midwicket, back foot in the air.
His 158 at The Oval in 2005 was the crowning glory of one of the greatest series, and in 2012 he scored three centuries touched with genius – Colombo, Headingley, Mumbai.
Like Boycott, he didn’t always endear himself to team-mates, notoriously causing a meltdown with his text messages to the South Africans. But it’s hard to think of a more watchable England batsman.
Kevin Pietersen’s record is similar to Boycotts but he was the chalk to the Yorkshireman’s cheese
8/ Alastair Cook: 12,472 runs at 45.35
From his first Test (60 and 104 not out v India at Nagpur in 2005-06) to his last (71 and 147 v India at The Oval in 2018), Cook took mental strength to new heights.
He possessed three main scoring shots: a cut, a pull, a leg-side nudge. But he was a superb player of spin: witness his 562 runs at 80 while captaining England to victory in India in 2012-13.
And his series haul of 766 at 127 during the triumphant Ashes tour of 2010-11 remains a high-water mark for English batsmanship. He retired from Tests aged 33, leaving fans – but not bowlers – wanting more.
Former captain Cook retired at 33 to leave fans – but not opposition bowlers – wanting more
7/ Denis Compton: 5,807 runs at 50.06
Compton was more than one of the most effortless, elegant batsmen ever to represent England. He was a booster of post-war morale – Neville Cardus said there was ‘no rationing in an innings by Compton’ – and cricket’s first star of the TV age, the game’s very own Brylcreem boy.
Typically, he hit the winning runs, with his characteristic sweep shot, when England regained the Ashes in 1953 after a 20-year wait.
His 3,816 first-class runs in 1947 are a record that will never be beaten, while his dodgy knee became a national obsession. The surgeon who eventually removed the kneecap donated it to Lord’s.
Denis Compton was more than one of the most effortless, elegant batsmen to represent England
6/ Herbert Sutcliffe: 4,555 runs at 60.73
No England player has ever averaged more in Test cricket than the imperturbable, urbane Sutcliffe; nor has a regular opener of any nationality.
His prolific alliance with Jack Hobbs was central to Ashes successes in 1926 and 1928-29, and Australians grew sick of the sight of him: in seven Test innings, at the MCG, he scored four centuries and averaged 103.
His other famous opening partner was Yorkshire’s Percy Holmes: their stand of 555 against Essex at Leyton in 1932 remained a first-wicket world record for nearly 45 years. As Wisden put it: ‘He never knew a season of failure.’
5/ Ken Barrington: 6,806 runs at 58.67
It was the Australian wicketkeeper Wally Grout who best summed up Barrington’s patriotism and grit: ‘Whenever I saw Ken coming to the wicket, I thought a Union Jack was trailing behind him.’
Barrington spent most of his career trying to prop up England in the 1960s, and he rarely failed.
As well being a rock-solid No 3 or 4, he was one of English cricket’s best-loved characters, and the game was in mourning when he died of a heart attack aged 50 at the team hotel in Barbados, where he was England’s assistant manager on the 1980-81 tour of the West Indies.
Wally Grout best summed up Ken Barrington’s (above) patriotism and grit: ‘Whenever I saw Ken coming to the wicket, I thought a Union Jack was trailing behind him’
4/ Len Hutton: 6,971 runs at 56.67
Hutton was just 22, and playing only his sixth Test, when he scored a then world-record 364 against Australia at The Oval in 1938. England declared at 903 for seven, still their highest total, and Hutton entered folklore.
After suffering a gym injury doing commando training during the war, his left arm became two inches shorter than his right, but the runs continued to flow.
And in 1954-55, he achieved English cricket’s holiest of grails, retaining the urn in Australia. No one has scored more runs as a Test opener at a higher average.
3/ Wally Hammond: 7,249 runs at 58.45
If you were building a robot by borrowing strokes from real-life cricketers, Hammond’s cover-drive would be among the first to enter the matrix. Had Don Bradman not come along, Hammond might have been regarded as the best player in the world.
As if to prove the point, Hammond’s 905 runs in the 1928-29 Ashes, including two double-hundreds, 177 and 119 not out, have been eclipsed only once – by Bradman in the return series in England 18 months later. In successive innings in New Zealand, Hammond once made 227 and an unbeaten 336. He could be moody, but he was a machine.
If you were building a robot by borrowing strokes from real-life cricketers, Hammond’s cover-drive would be among the first to enter the matrix
2/ Joe Root: 12,578 runs at 51.33*
Over the summer, Root took his batting to another level and broke records for fun. Since losing his wicket to a reverse scoop at Rajkot in February, he has averaged 75 in Tests, and rarely looked as comfortable in his skin.
In passing Cook’s England-record 33 Test centuries with two hundreds against Sri Lanka at Lord’s, Root made the extraordinary look commonplace.
He will spend the rest of his career being asked whether he can overtake Sachin Tendulkar’s haul of 15,921 – and will quietly play it down, until the day he does.
Root left records in tatters over the summer and consistently made the extraordinary look commonplace
1/ Jack Hobbs: 5,410 runs at 56.94
When Wisden chose their Five Cricketers of the Century in 2000, Hobbs was the only Englishman. He would have won prizes for modesty, too, often giving his wicket away after scoring one of the 199 hundreds he ended up with in all first-class cricket.
A dozen of them came against Australia, an English Ashes record, and he played the last of 61 Tests at the age of 47.
They called him ‘The Master’, and he is still celebrated at a special lunch every December 16 – his birthday – where club members eat his favourite meal: tomato soup, roast lamb and apple pie.
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