Has English Cricket seen the greatest batsman of all time in the shape of Joe Root?

After yet another outstanding performance from the former England captain Joe Root at Lords in the opening test of the summer, a question was posed on social media about who the greatest England batsman in the modern era of English cricket is.

It is a fascinating debate, with a long list of greats that will come to most people’s minds.

In the past twenty years the likes of Sir Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen spring to mind, but realistically Root has to be the name that most cricket lovers would now call the greatest English batsman of all time.

Root has been immense for England in recent times. On Sunday he posted his 26^th Test hundred in a winning cause against New Zealand.

He makes the business of compiling hundreds look so simple and has single handily rescued England on countless occasions when they have looked dead and buried.

It is easy to forget that in his early part of his captaincy career with England Root had no problems in reaching a half century but could never go on to convert into three figures, a situation that great players will do on a regular basis.

However, since the start of last year he has reached 50, no less than 13 times, turning nine of those into hundreds as well as making two double hundreds.

Aside from these remarkable stats, until recently Root has scored these runs wearing the England captains armband, with a side devoid of any confidence on a poor run of form.

He had to shoulder the burden of leading a struggling side who lacked the belief to win matches.

Even with the pressure of captaincy, Root has already etched himself into the English record books as one of, if not the all-time greatest batsman that England has ever produced.

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