Joe de vivre: The root to England's future

The man, or should I say boy, who replaced him bats with all the youthful exuberance and joie de vivre that Compton lacks. Or should I say Joe de vivre? Joe Root looks the part. Where Compton always seemed like he had a point to prove, Root has blithely waltzed into international cricket. It’s been far more than a case of him taking to it like a duck to water. He bats like he’s been preparing for the moment his entire life, displaying complete insouciance to the pressures of international sport.

Joe Root of England

Who can forget his century at Headingley? Who would begrudge him the shouts of ‘Root! Root! Root!’ from the partisan Yorkshire crowd? His batting is easy on the eye, reminiscent of a young Michael Vaughan with the correctness of each shot he plays. The calmness and apparent imperviousness to pressure haven’t gone unnoticed either; not since the days of Michael Atherton has a young England batsman been touted as a future captain so early in his career.

He never had a storming County Season; he was picked after impressing with the England Lions, and hasn’t looked back. He has risen to every challenge; it is not easy for an opening batsman to bat at number 6. He did that. It is not easy for a young player to rescue his team from a precarious situation; he has done that more than once.

It is very easy to get overwhelmed by success at such a tender age; many forget that he is still only 22. But Root has remained his own man. In the face of intense media scrutiny after his run-in with David Warner, Root displayed all the qualities that have impressed the England management and cricket enthusiasts. No inflammatory remarks from him, except: I’d like to go back to playing cricket, please.

‘We believe Joe Root is currently the best opening partner for Alastair Cook’. It’s as simple as that. The right man for the right job, as it were. The fact that Joe Root is an opening batsman by trade, that at 22 he has a good many years ahead of him, that the impetuous Johnny Bairstow will slot in at number 6 as a result of this decision, are not germane to the primary decision. England feel that Joe Root and Alastair Cook will make the best opening pair, a pair that can blunt the threat of the Australian new ball attack and lay a platform at the same time.

It is not so much Compton not being the right man for the job as Root being the better man for the job. It is not a reflection of Compton’s skill, commitment or desire – nobody disputes any of that. Root is young, precociously talented, innovative, hungry and has a certain serenity about him that bellies his age.

The rise of Joe Root has not coincided with the fall of Nick Compton. He has not been selected due to Compton’s shortcomings, but due to his own merit. He might have been batting in the middle order while Compton opened in England’s last Test assignment. That is the past. As far as the present goes, Joe Root’s time is now. And given the fact that he has met every challenge with steely equanimity so far, the future might well be his as well.

Headingley will not be the last time we heard those chants of ‘Root! Root! Root!’