Nestled in his crib, a baby Joe Root holds a small cricket bat. Now, 33 years later, that same baby is England’s highest-ever Test run scorer. You could say he was born to the role.

We would all have liked a bat on it, even at my age. But that is not to take anything away from England. Their batting was magnificent. Joe Root and Harry Brook, using different styles ...

Joe Root would have been about eight years old when I first met him. I was playing with his dad, Matt, for our club Sheffield Collegiate, and Joe and his brother Billy would buzz around the changing ...