PROFILE

Joe Root’s stock rose markedly through 2012, so much so that he has been touted as a future England captain by White Rose stalwart Michael Vaughan, someone who has played a major role in the right-hander’s development.

Root has made no secret of his admiration for Vaughan, also from Sheffield, and there are plenty of similarities in the pair’s games, from that elegant front foot drive down to the fact that both bowl, or bowled in Vaughan’s case, useful part-time off-spin.

The only issue the pair have is that they support football teams on different sides of the Steel City, with Root a Blade!

Root, like Vaughan, came through the ranks at the Sheffield Collegiate club, and was earmarked for great things from a young age. 

He built his reputation largely as an opener in the longer format, but in recent seasons - 2012 in particular - has shown just how useful a tool he can be for captains in the limited overs arena as well.

Shortly after scoring 73 on his Test debut against India at Nagpur, he made his one-day and Twenty20 international bows on the same tour.

But, no matter how much he goes on to achieve in his career, he will always remember his stunning 222 against Hampshire on a sticky wicket at Southampton during Yorkshire’s most recent promotion winning campaign. It truly was an innings with all the hallmarks of a class act.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

2004 - Captained Yorkshire under 13s to a County Championship win over Lancashire, played as a single innings match. He scored 58.

2006 - Debuted for Sheffield Collegiate’s first team in a Yorkshire Premier League match alongside his father Matt in May aged 15. He also averaged 61 in seven matches for Yorkshire’s under 15s side through the summer.

2007 - Made his debuts for Yorkshire’s Academy and second XI teams within the space of three days in July, opening the batting and scoring 57 in the latter - a Championship match against Derbyshire on his home ground at Abbeydale Park.

2008 - Scored an unbeaten 122 for the Academy in a one-day match against Scotland under 19s at Edinburgh in June.

2009 - Amassed 163 not out from number three in a magnificent second XI Championship win over Leicestershire in June. Yorkshire were chasing 401, and he and Jonny Bairstow (201 not out) shared an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 358. It played a part in earning him his first-team bow, scoring 63 as an opener in a 40-over match against Essex at Headingley in September. He won the man-of-the-series award on the subsequent England under 19s tour to Bangladesh in October. 

2010 - Played six matches for the under 19s at the World Cup in New Zealand in January before playing two first-class matches against Loughborough University and India A in May and June.

2011 - His Championship debut against Worcestershire at New Road in April was one of 15 matches he played on top of his England Lions debut against Sri Lanka A at Scarborough in August, a match in which he scored 66. His maiden Championship hundred was a 160 against Sussex at the same ground later in the month. He finished his breakthrough first-class summer with 1,013 runs to his name.

2012 - One-day and first-class tons for the Lions against Sri Lanka A on tour in February and against the touring West Indians in May pushed him closer to a senior call-up, and he continued to excel for his county with 125 against Northamptonshire in May and his superb double against Hampshire in July. He also returned some valuable contributions against the white ball, and was promoted to number three in the order of Yorkshire’s Twenty20 team. Capped by Yorkshire in August before being named as PCA’s and Cricket Writers Club’s Young Player of the Year. He scored 73 off 229 balls on Test debut at Nagpur batting at number six, the sixth longest debut innings by an Englishman in terms of balls faced. England won the series 2-1 before he made his Twenty20 debut.

2013 - Called up to England’s ODI squad as a replacement for Jonny Bairstow in January, scoring 57 in the fourth of a five-match series before securing his place in all three squads for the tour of New Zealand in February and March.  Called up to Captain England Lions against New Zealand in May.  Made a career best 236* at Headingley against Derbyshire in the LV= County Championship.