Why Joe Root should not be considered part of the big four in Tests

It’s been widely accepted since the early 2010s that the next big four in Test cricket was Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith and Joe Root. Their records spoke for themselves and they shone as their respective team’s golden boys for a large part of the decade.

Now with each of them maturing into captaincy and post-captaincy phases, it is time to take a re-look. One batsman whose record has appeared suspect in recent times in Tests is Joe Root, who recently hit a double ton at Seddon Park against New Zealand to end a drought of centuries. Pitting Root against the other three throws up some interesting numbers.

Overall Test record

Root has the most runs among the big four in Test cricket. But a lot of that is attributed to playing a whole lot more Test innings than the other three. Virat Kohli, with 21 innings less than Root, is already closing in on him in terms of runs.

Among the big four, Root is the only one to average less than 50 in his Test career. He is only behind Hashim Amla and Alastair Cook in terms of overall runs made since 2008 in Tests despite his debut coming four years later, but again it is more about playing more matches in that time frame.

Fifties, hundreds and double tons for big four 

The quality of a Test batsman is determined by their ability to make big hundreds. Virat Kohli and Steve Smith, a class above the other two in recent times, have 25-plus hundreds in Test cricket and seem to have little issues in converting their starts to big scores. That isn’t quite true for the other two, especially Root.

He has the most fifties among the big four with a whopping 45– a total of 62 scores above 50 in Tests. But only 17 of them have been converted to hundreds – a conversion rate of 27.41%. The corresponding percentages for the others are 55.1% (Kohli), 49.05% (Smith) and 40.38% (Williamson).

Recent record

Cut down to recent records since 2015 and Root still manages to score above the other three owing to the number of Tests England play. But while the others have moved into the 60-plus category in terms of average, Root continues to languish in the 40s. The other three have more hundreds than Joe Root and also score them at a much greater frequency.

Since 2015, Root’s hundreds have come once in roughly 10 innings. The corresponding rate for others are 4 for Smith, 5 for Kohli and 5 for Williamson. It sows how Root needs more daddy hundreds like the one at Seddon Park to maintain his position in the quartet.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / David Gray