Joe Root finishes 2021 with third most calendar year Test runs in history

Root scored 1,708 runs this year, with an average of 61.00

England lost the Ashes in humiliating style today but for Joe Root, it has been an incredible year with the bat as he ended up with 1,708 runs with an average of 61.00. The skipper ended 2021 with the third most Test runs in history.

Root’s dismissal on day three of the third Test in Melbourne for 28 left him with 1,708 runs for the calendar year, behind Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf with 1,788 runs in 2006 and West Indies legend Viv Richards with 1710 runs in 1976.

Root, however, played far more innings to get a total of 1,708. He played 29 innings to the 19 of both Yousuf and Richards.

The England Test captain has 6 centuries to his name this year. He scored all these centuries in Test matches.

Root moved past the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar to chalk up 1,600 runs at the second Test in Adelaide, and then edged South Africa’s Graeme Smith (1,656 in 2008) in Melbourne.

The 30-year-old is yet to score his first Ashes century in Australia. He has two more tests to do it.

"I think I probably wanted it too much, I was too desperate and it had probably a negative impact on the way I played, I put too much pressure on myself," he said ahead of the tour of his will to succeed in Australia.

The extent to which England have relied on Root this year is demonstrated by the numbers.

Second in the pecking order is maligned opener Rory Burns, who scored 530 this year at 27.89, then Jonny Bairstow with 391 at 24.43.