With his second hundred in Australia in the ongoing final Ashes Test at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), England batsman Joe Root has achieved what he hadn’t in his whole career so far. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has shared how he sees Root’s hunger for runs being the motivation for the England batter to return to Australian shores for another Ashes in four years’ time.
“I don’t think he will lose his hunger. He won’t lose his enthusiasm. Will it be his last Test match here? I would think he has a huge chance in four years of coming back here. He would love to come down here and win a series.” Vaughan said on Fox Cricket.
Prior to the Ashes, Root had never scored a Test hundred in Australia. In the 14 Tests played in Australia prior to the ongoing Ashes, Root had scored a total of 829 runs at an average of 35.68 with a highest score of 89. In this Ashes series, Root has scored a total of 394 runs including two Test hundreds with his first hundred in the series coming in the Brisbane Test followed by Monday’s knock of 160 runs. It was also the 17th time that Root crossed the 15-run mark in an innings in his Test career. Root is now within 2,000 runs of Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time Test match tally of 15,921 runs. Former Australian captain Michel Clarke was also in praise of the England batsman and believes that Root has the chance to overtake Tendulkar’s record. “He is a star. Over a long period of time, statistics don’t lie. All the recognition that he gets he deserves. I’m really happy he has made a hundred in Australia because I think that was the only talking point left. I think he has the chance to be the leading run scorer and overtake Sachin. For me, I think Joe has stood the test of time. As a great of the game, success is one part, but longevity is the other, and I think that needs to be respected and recognised as well,” Clarke said on Fox Sports.
Root has scored his runs in this series currently at an average of 49.25 and sits at the second spot in the leading run getters in this series. Former England captain Michael Atherton too showed his praise on Root’s batting. “I don’t think I’ve seen him play better, certainly not here in Australia. I’m not sure I’ve seen him play better anywhere. I thought it was one of his very best innings,” Atherton said on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
Root talked about how he wants England to score a win at Sydney with the team having a chance to win two back-back Tests in Ashes. “One thing I always try and look at is opportunity. I don’t know how many opportunities I’m going to get to come back to Australia. Obviously, last week was great to win at the MCG, and I ?guess that presented another opportunity here this week to try and help us get in a position of strength within this game early on.”I want to try and replicate that feeling last week for the group. For a lot of this squad it is the first time they’ve been out here, so if they’ve got good memories and we can find a way to win this fixture, next time we come out, the last two memories we’d have out here would be two Ashes wins,” Root told reporters on Monday.
