As Joe Root went past Rahul Dravid’s record of most catches in Test cricket, with his 211th clasps at Lord’s to send back Karun Nair, the first among English first-slippers recalled how he grew into the role. Root broke the record on Day 3 of his 156th Test, 12 years after his first grab – New Zealand’s Peter Fulton off the bowling of Steven Finn at long-on in 2013, and spoke to BBC Sport of how his journey as a fielder started.
He said that 25 years ago at Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club, his first incentive was a packet of crisps (potato chips) and a pop (eg. Chocobar or orange dolly). “At eight or nine years old, I’d be doing fine leg to fine leg, working my apprenticeship that way,” Root told BBC Sport. “As you play a little bit more, you start finding ways of trying to get more involved. To get us staying engaged with the game, one of the senior players would keep asking how many balls were left. If we got it right, we’d get 20p. At the end of the game, if you were engaged and knew what was going on, you might be able to buy yourself a packet of crisps and a pop. That’s how I got into it. The more you play, the more you want to affect the game, the more you want to get into the positions where you can actually do that.”
The logic is simple – you spend more time on the ground fielding than batting.
Root told BBC his favourites: lunging catch after Sri Lanka’s Shaminda Eranga at Chester-le-Street in 2016 was pushed onto the backfoot evading James Vince and a stretched full-dive at short cover to send back Indian Ajinkya Rahane in Chennai in 2021, a game in which the then-England captain had also scored a double hundred.
The New old Fab Four also sees Root competing with Steve Smith, for not just runs but also the Caughts. Smith has 200 catches from 118 Tests, ahead of the Grenada Test beginning on Saturday. Accordingbto CricViz stats, Root averages just over 0.7 catches per Test while Smith is at an eye-popping 0.9.
Like a good batting vigil, Test catching can also demand focus over long sessions, née days. “That’s the beauty of it. You’re training your body, over and over again, that when the ball comes, you’re in the right position, lined up nicely, and staying nice and relaxed. It might be two days before you take a catch, but if it’s drilled into you, time and time again, it makes it that little bit easier. It takes that panic out of it,” he told BBC.
“There are situations where the conditions are in the bowlers’ favour and you feel very much in the game the whole time. You are naturally in a very good headspace to catch. There are other times when it comes out of nowhere, catching you off guard.”
The New old Fab Four also sees Root competing with Steve Smith, for not just runs but also the Caughts. Smith has 200 catches from 118 Tests, ahead of the Grenada Test beginning on Saturday. Accordingbto CricViz stats, Root averages just over 0.7 catches per Test while Smith is at an eye-popping 0.9.
Like a good batting vigil, Test catching can also demand focus over long sessions, née days. “That’s the beauty of it. You’re training your body, over and over again, that when the ball comes, you’re in the right position, lined up nicely, and staying nice and relaxed. It might be two days before you take a catch, but if it’s drilled into you, time and time again, it makes it that little bit easier. It takes that panic out of it,” he told BBC.
“There are situations where the conditions are in the bowlers’ favour and you feel very much in the game the whole time. You are naturally in a very good headspace to catch. There are other times when it comes out of nowhere, catching you off guard.”