Joe Root - The celestial with the bat around which none orbited
Joe Root scored 1708 runs in 2021 which came at an average of 61. Such numbers are churned out on a rare basis and often dreamt of by the team. Unfortunately for him, his not so unprecedented success overlapped with the unprecedented fall of English cricket.
The Three Lions have been hit where it hurts, having faltered in the division of the game they hold dearest.
While the England captain scored runs on all terrain, the team piled on losses in those territories. The grave situation can be glued together with numbers. Root singlehandedly outscored his teammates by an astronomical margin.
Rory Burns ended the year as the second-highest run scorer with 530 runs. The next entry in the list is extras, much to the chagrin of the England faithful.
England Test runs in 2021:
🏏 Joe Root - 1⃣7⃣0⃣8⃣
🏏 Rory Burns - 5⃣3⃣0⃣
🏏 Extras - 4⃣1⃣2⃣
Extras was the third-highest run-scorer of the year 🤯 https://t.co/wIszWtqEzc
The recently turned 31-year-old's impeccable parity between home and away was on full show. His centuries in Galle and Chennai could potentially serve as handbooks for how to bat against spin. They relished a series win in Sri Lanka and an unexpected series lead in India to start the year off.
Following an unexpected win in Chennai, it all went downhill for England. Their wounds were well exposed with a poor brief stretch for Root with the bat. The team endured glaring defeats during the remainder of the Tests against India.
It is no coincidence that England amassed victories in the initial set of Tests in 2021. Root reached a tally of 700 runs from the first three Tests that he played. In the second half of the series against India, the ace batter could only contribute 110 runs in six innings. What followed were margins like defeat by 317 runs, defeat by 10 wickets and defeat by an innings and 25 runs.
It was as if someone had scripted England their worst nightmare. To make matters worse, they could not seem to wake from it. English summers are usually a treat for the local ardent fans, despite being gloomy at times. In 2021, England endured one of their worst home campaigns with series losses to New Zealand and India.
Root's brisk start to an innings, sound technique, flow off his innings and knack of converting were all on show, but the rest just could not even closely match it. Disasters for England typically begin right at the top of the order.
Poor starts by the openers on a near regular basis meant that Root effectively played as a top-order batsman.
He faced the new ball, and even countered the Duke ball which swings more as it gets older. The flamboyant player had to put out all the fires with all of the odds stacked against him. Even three centuries and a fifty across four Tests were not enough to keep India at bay.
What will England do when Root runs out of steam?
Revamping its domestic structure and digging around deep into the county system now seems imminent for England. The team cannot expect Root to dish out exceptional numbers like this year in and year out.
The silver lining for the team is possibly wrapped around the fact that most batters in the team are relatively young. The pool of players are yet to hit their peak
Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dan Lawrence and Ollie Pope have all shown promise at some time or another. They could very well go on to be the backbone of the batting unit if groomed properly.
Like the aforementioned players, Root also made his debut at the age of 22. He also endured a minor blip after a promising start but eventually came of age. He has stood tall during tough tides in English cricket before and is now being called upon for an encore.
Big fish, small pond?
By amassing 1702 runs in the longest format in 2021, Root entered the record books. He became the third highest run-scorer in a calendar year, only remaining behind Vivian Richards and Mohammad Yousuf.
Highest percentage of team runs scored of a calendar year in Tests (min: 1000 runs):
26.2% - Joe Root 🏴 in 2021
25.5% - Garry Sobers 🏝️ in 1958
25.3% - Viv Richards 🏝️ in 1976
25.1% - Andy Flower 🇿🇼 in 2000
24.9% - Jacques Kallis 🇿🇦 in 2007
#Ashes #AUSvENG
Joe Root possesses the second lowest calendar year average among the top ten on that elusive list. Which leads to a tricky question: Would Root have fared better or worse on a statistical level had the batters around him chipped in as well?
There is a high chance that a lot of new faces might be introduced in the England camp, given how their year went. The side will have to expand their pond before they lose the big fish.