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.

Joe Root. It is not a name that comes to mind when one thinks of the modern cricketing greats. That place will go to players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Steve Smith. And with good reason.

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 ...