Joseph Edward Root (born 30 December 1990) is an English international cricketer who plays for England in Tests and ODIs. He is the current captain of the Test team, reappointed in 2026 having previous held the role from 2017 to 2022. He plays for Yorkshire in English domestic cricket. Root is currently the leading run-scorer among active batsmen, the second highest run-scorer of all time in Test cricket and the highest run scorer for England. Root is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of his era and among the finest England has produced. He was part of the England team that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup, where he top scored for England. As of March 2026, he has topped the ICC rankings for Test batsmen on ten occasions.
Root made his Test debut in 2012, his ODI debut in 2013 and played for the England Twenty20 International team between 2012 and 2019. He captained England's Test team between February 2017 and April 2022, and holds the records for most Test matches (65), wins (28) as England captain. On the occasion of England's 1,000th Test in 2018, Root was named in the country's greatest all-time Test XI by the England and Wales Cricket Board. He was named both the ICC Men's Test Cricketer of the Year and the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for 2021.
A right-handed batsman, Root originally played as an opener but has played the majority of his cricket for England in the middle order. He is both England's highest run-scorer in Tests and in ODIs. He holds the record for both most Test (41) and most ODI (20) centuries for England. In June 2022, he became the second batsman for England, and fourteenth overall, to score 10,000 Test runs.
Along with Harry Brook, he holds the world record for highest fourth-wicket stand (and fourth highest overall) in Tests (454), and with James Anderson the highest tenth-wicket partnership (198). He is also England's leading run scorer in the ICC World Cup and the only English player to score over 1000 runs in the competition. Root also bowls occasional off spin, and regularly fields at first slip, holding the record for most Test catches by an outfield player. As of July 2026, Root is one of only 2 players, along with AB de Villiers, to have a career batting average of 50+ in both Tests and ODI's in the history of international cricket.
Root is the eldest son of Helen and Matt Root and grew up in Dore, Sheffield. His younger brother Billy plays cricket for Glamorgan. Root attended Dore Primary and King Ecgbert School in Sheffield, and at 15, on a cricket sports scholarship, Worksop College as a weekly boarder.
Root followed in his father’s footsteps by joining Sheffield Collegiate CC, in Abbeydale Park. Former Yorkshire batsman and England captain Michael Vaughan also plied his trade at Collegiate and was a source of inspiration for Root, who became a protégé of his. Root won Player of the Tournament in the prestigious Bunbury Festival. Root is a supporter of Sheffield United F.C.
Root made his Yorkshire second team debut on 18 July 2007 against Derbyshire at Abbeydale Park. He scored 57, putting on a 133 first-wicket stand with Adam Lyth. He continued to represent the academy team and was named player of the tournament as Yorkshire’s Academy won the ProARCH Trophy in Abu Dhabi. After success at second team level, Root was given an opportunity in the first team in Yorkshire’s final Pro40 match of the season at Headingley against Essex. Root scored 63 and was top-scorer in Yorkshire’s 187–7. Although his half-century could not inspire Yorkshire to victory, Root described his debut as a "dream come true".
After another man of the series performance, this time on England Under-19 duty in Bangladesh, Root signed a three-year professional contract with Yorkshire. Root was selected for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand, making an unbeaten 70 in a victory against Hong Kong as England progressed to the quarter-finals before being eliminated by the West Indies. Later that winter, he was sent to the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy in Adelaide, South Australia, to fine tune his game.
In 2011, Root’s County Championship debut against Worcestershire at New Road in April was one of 15 matches he played that year on top of his England Lions cricket team debut against Sri Lanka A. At Scarborough in August, he scored his maiden Championship hundred against Sussex. Root captained Yorkshire in the match that they won the 2014 County Championship title and helped them retain it the following year.
In April 2022, Root was retained by the Trent Rockets for the 2022 season of The Hundred. and on 23 December 2022 he was bought by Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2023 auction.
In the fourth Test against India, Root became the 655th player to represent England at Test level, receiving his cap from former England all-rounder Paul Collingwood. Coming in as the number six batsman rather than his usual position as an opener, he scored 73 from 229 balls, top-scoring jointly with Kevin Pietersen. In the second innings he made 20 not out to help England bat out the match and secure a first Test series win on Indian soil since 1984-85.
Root made his T20 debut in the second of a two-match series that followed, although he was not required to bat. He was also included in the ODI squad after Jonny Bairstow withdrew. Root was not required to bat on his ODI debut either, but did bowl nine overs, collecting figures of 0-51, as England won by nine runs. He made scores of 36 and 39 in the next two matches, before making his maiden ODI fifty in the fourth match of the series, although England lost by five wickets. Root finished the series with 163 runs.
Following the successful tour of India, Root was retained in the Test squad for the tour of New Zealand and was added to the previously announced ODI and T20 squads. After being an unused batsman in the third T20, he started the ODI series with two half-centuries, contributing 56 in the first game before top-scoring with 79 off 56 balls in the second. In doing so, Root became the first batsman to start his ODI career with six consecutive scores of over 30 and finished the series with 163 runs.
In the Test series, Root continued to bat in the middle-order and in the third Test he made 45 off 176 balls before being bowled by Tim Southee. The series ended 0-0 and Root finished the series with 88 runs.
2013–14: New Zealand, Champions Trophy and back-to-back Ashes series
New Zealand travelled to England in the summer of 2013 and Root’s first involvement was to captain the England Lions against the Black Caps in a four-day warm-up match, where he scored 179 runs. After scoring 40 and 71 runs in the first Test at Lord’s, Root scored his maiden Test century at his home ground of Headingley, hitting 104 runs off 167 balls and became the first Yorkshire player to score their first Test century at Headingley. He finished the series as England’s top scorer with 243 runs and helped his team to a 2–0 series victory. In the ODI series that followed, Root made scores of 30, 28 and 33 as England lost the series 2–1.
Root was named in the England squad for the Champions Trophy. He featured against Sri Lanka and hit 68 runs off 55 balls in a seven-wicket loss. Root helped England to a 10-run win over New Zealand by making 38 runs off 40 balls, which secured them a place in the semi-finals. In the last four against South Africa, Root scored 48 off 71 balls as England eased to a seven-wicket win and advanced to the final. Following England’s loss to India, he was named as 12th man in the Team of the Tournament by the ICC.
Root was asked to opening the batting with captain Alastair Cook for the Ashes after the selectors decided to drop Nick Compton from the England team. In the first Test he made scores of 30 and 5, and took his first Test wicket when he had Ed Cowan caught in the second innings. In the second innings of the second Test, Root made 180 before England declared to set Australia a target of 583. In the final innings Root took the wickets of Usman Khawaja and Australia captain Michael Clarke in consecutive overs with both batters well set on 50-plus scorers. This saw Root named Man of the Match for his performance with bat and ball. England retained the Ashes after a drawn third Test and victory in the fourth saw the series won, though Root did not contribute significantly to either result. He top-scored for England in the final Test to finish the series with 339 runs.