He Told Broad First
NEWS / He Told Broad First
Edgbaston, morning of 19 June 2023. England 28 for 2, lead 35. Joe Root sat next to Stuart Broad and said, as Broad later told Sky, that he fancied a reverse-scoop for six first ball. Broad told him if it was in his gut he had to go for it. Root said he would decide on the walk out. He did not change his mind.
Pat Cummins, first ball of the day. Root shaped for the reverse-ramp and missed. The ball went over off stump. Phil Tufnell, on TMS, asked what he was doing. Root faced Scott Boland next over and hit the same shot for six, then four. Three reverse-ramps in seven balls. Australia put a man back. The shot had already done its job: it had moved a field on the first morning of an Ashes day.
Eight months later, Rajkot, 17 February 2024. Root reverse-scooped Jasprit Bumrah to Yashasvi Jaiswal at second slip, 18. England 224 for 3, India a bowler down, Ashwin off the field. Collapse. Scyld Berry in the Telegraph called it “the worst, most stupid, shot in the history of England’s Test cricket.” Root told Atherton it was a shot that scored him a lot of runs. Duckett said it was the same as nicking a drive. Both things can be true. Only one of them is how the shot is remembered when it fails.
Joe Root reverse-scoop for six, Ashes 2023. If the player does not load, open it on YouTube.
He is No. 2 in the Test batting list and England’s Test captain again. The reverse-scoop is still in the bag. The dressing-room sentence is still the funnier fact: he did not invent it at the crease. He booked it before he left the room.