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 surpasses Alastair Cook as England’s record Test runscorer - Stu Forster/Getty Images Nestled in his crib, a baby Joe Root holds a small cricket bat. Now, 33 years later, that same baby ...

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 ...

It was Matt who started his son’s journey to the top of English cricket when he put a cardboard bat in baby Joe’s moses basket 33 years ago, so it was appropriate he scaled the greatest peak ...