India v England: Graham Thorpe feels that Root’s longevity in Test cricket is a real achievement, and that “good sense” is needed to play that amount of cricket.
Graham Thorpe saluted Joe Root’s “work ethic” as the England captain prepared him to join a select group of players who have played 100 Test matches for the Three Lions. Root was set to reach that point to lead England in the first match of the four-match series against India in Chennai next week.In the process he would become just the 15th Englishman to appear in a hundred matches in 144 years of Test matches. Fellow batsman Thorpe is one of the last 14 to achieve the milestone in his last international outing against Bangladesh in 2005.
After watching his playing career overlap with Root, the former Surrey left-hander Thorpe now worked with him in the role of England’s batting coach.
“To play a hundred Test matches, it makes no sense,” Thorpe said in a conference call on Friday. “His family would feel very proud. He always remained humble. He is a great student of sports.
“It is a real achievement because of its longevity, which has given itself around 7,000 test runs,” said Thorpe.
“You need a good sense of humor to play that amount of cricket because you will feel the height, but there will be moments where you have your charm.
” You have to show a little character and flexibility, you have to cultivate your habit and sometimes you have to tamper with your technique and you have to manage all of that. “
The now 51-year-old Thorpe recalled his early experience of seeing Yorkshire batsman Root in action, saying: “What I saw early on with Joey and I was fortunate to see some of his early games with Yorkshire, was really the character. Was. Character and temperament … He was just a great work ethic. He’s always trying to do better. “
The Indian team performed brilliantly after innings of 228 and 186 during the 2–0 series clean sweep of England in Sri Lanka.
Those hundreds saw the 30-year-old climb into the top five of the Test batting rankings.
“He has shown that he wants to be a good example in the series in Sri Lanka,” said Thorpe of Root, who has now scored 8,249 Test runs, including 19 centuries, at an impressive average of 49.39.
“The players who are on the team with him have a great example to see how he goes about his business.”
