At the first stroke Joe Root has made life easier for himself and his team. The first priority of a new captain who is a batsman has nothing to do with such ephemeral notions as bonding the team or setting the tone; it is to score runs. And at the first attempt Root has delivered in style.
He has sparkled more in the past on his passage towards three figures, but having posted his hundred he was at his impish best, melding sweet and solid orthodoxy with a few homespun specialities that must have had his father and grandad beaming in the stands.
In the last half-hour against the second new ball he was majestic as he headed towards a double century. Instead of playing for tomorrow, as Yorkshiremen of another era might have been inclined to do, Root was, indeed, able to set the tone. He attacked ruthlessly, exploiting the weary legs of the South African bowlers and fielders for whom 87 overs in the field seemed an awfully long time in this white-ball summer. England finished the day sitting pretty on 357 for five; Root had contributed 184 of those with the power to add some more on Friday morning.
Root had his reprieves. On five and 16 he offered difficult chances to long leg and gully respectively; much later, on 149, he was palpably stumped off Keshav Maharaj before the discovery that the left‑arm spinner had overstepped by a few millimetres.
This was Root’s 12th Test century and one of his most significant. With runs in the bank as a captain all the decisions that come his way will now be a little easier. Most obviously, it becomes more straightforward for him to drop fellow batsmen when the time comes – how often has a batting line-up been paralysed because it has been impossible to omit someone who has been scoring more runs than the captain? More positively, the respect and authority for the captain in the dressing room automatically deepens when the man in charge takes control of the game, which is what Root did so emphatically on Thursday with a little help from Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali.
Root’s felt like a landmark innings. But then we were reminded that England’s past three captains, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss, all made centuries in their first match in charge. Before that the only two men to achieve this feat were Archie MacLaren and Allan Lamb (there must be a link between these two, but it currently remains elusive). Root’s innings is the highest of any Englishman on his debut as captain, surpassing Cook’s 173 in Chittagong.
It now seems all too obvious that captaincy can, at least at the outset, enhance a batsman. It concentrates the mind nicely. Gary Ballance, now captain of Yorkshire, might be prepared to confirm that theory. Priorities change; personal milestones are easily overshadowed by the state of the game; it is no fun in the field leading a team that is 150 runs short of par, and that can be a powerful driving force.
There were moments when that looked to be England’s fate after Root won the toss under a cloudless sky as a capacity crowd found their seats. There was a tinge of green in the pitch, which would allow a little extra bounce and modest sideways movement.
Whatever help was available was exploited by Vernon Philander, who has the endearing quality of being a Test cricketer who looks as if he could have been plucked out of a club game. He is not fleet of foot; his muscles do not ripple much and he tends to lumber rather than glide around the boundary. Nor does he bowl swiftly by international standards. He propels at about 80mph and no more.
But he has special, old-fashioned qualities. He bowls from close to the stumps; he finds a good length and he hits the seam more often than most. And when the rhythm is right he generates a little more pace and bounce than expected. He managed that in his opening spell even though he has not bowled in the middle for more than a month.
Cook played a loose shot off the back foot and edged to the wickekeeper; Keaton Jennings was soon given lbw when hit on the front pad. A review was contemplated but rejected; in fact it would have been justified as the ball pitched outside leg stump – just. Since Jennings opts to bat with his pads covering all three stumps the temptation to mark him out as an lbw candidate is hard to avoid.
Ballance, who only ever bats at No3 for England, settled neatly enough until he was lbw to Morne Morkel bowling round the wicket. This time England opted to review – incorrectly. He was hit on the front pad but it was only just beyond the popping crease. So England were rocking on 76 for four with the captain and vice-captain – Ben Stokes – in harness.
They navigated through the afternoon session with Stokes in solid, responsible mode in between the odd awesome boundary. The biggest alarm was when Stokes, on 44, was bowled by Morkel – off another no-ball.
This pair added 114 before Stokes edged a hook against Kagiso Rabada just after tea. Thereafter Moeen, a reassuring presence at No7, was the ideal ally for Root. Moeen took 17 balls to open his account but then he cruised along in Root’s wake, with his own exquisite cover drives. Together they added 167 runs in the final session, which left England dictating the game on a day when there was no doubt about who was the man in charge.
