Friday 24 April 2015 08:07, UK
Ian Botham says Joe Root’s recent form is unbelievable after he scored his sixth Test ton and first overseas on day three of the second Test between England and the West Indies in Grenada.
Root finished the day unbeaten on 118, continuing a remarkable run of form in Test cricket after he was dropped for the last Test of the 2013/14 Ashes just over a year ago.
“He makes things happen, suddenly there’s a tempo,” said Botham. “The opposition know that a batsman is out there who wants to dominate them.
“His record at the moment is unbelievable. Since he was left out in Sydney, he’s got over 1,000 runs, averaging over a hundred.”
England closed the day on 373-6 with a lead of 74, but things could have been even better with Gary Ballance (77), Alastair Cook (76), and Jonathan Trott (59) all missing out on the chance for hundreds after good starts.
Also, Moeen Ali – run out for a duck – and Ben Stokes both fell cheaply late in the day, Stokes given a salute from Marlon Samuels as he departed after holing out in the deep off Devendra Bishoo for eight.
“It was a very good start,” added Botham. “The tempo changed with the more fluent players in the middle order, but it was good to see a solid start from England – they’ve been waiting some time for that.
“They will all be a little bit disappointed to have got out, Stokes in particular. Although I have to say I thought it was quite funny the send-off.
“He’ll be disappointed with that as he picked the one man out there at deep midwicket, so that was a little bit of bad luck.
“But all in all, England have done well. They’ve got a 74-run lead and they can take that into tomorrow.
“They’ve got to give themselves enough time to bowl the West Indies out on this pitch. I think it will be turning by day five, but it’s not going to be quick turn.”
Watch day four of the second Test between West Indies and England live on Sky Sports 2 from 2.30pm on Friday.
