Root attended Dore Primary and King Ecgbert School in Sheffield, and at 15, on a cricket sports scholarship, Worksop College as a weekly boarder.

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.

[23] 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.

[24] 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.

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.

[30] 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.

[35] 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.

[37] 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 side.

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.

[39] 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 was moved back to number six for the first Test with Michael Carberry given the opening batsman role alongside Alastair Cook.

[41] The second Test saw Root move up to number three, filling the spot vacated by Jonathan Trott, who had returned home due to a stress related illness.

[44] Root was out controversially for just four in the first innings of the third Test and made 19 in the second as England lost the match and as a result relinquished the Ashes.

England kept faith despite Root’s waning form and he played in the second ODI, but only made two runs before Mitchell Johnson trapped him in front.

Root was dropped for third and fourth ODIs due to his poor run of scoring, but returned for the final match, adding 55 from 86 balls.

He was selected for the first ODI, he took the wicket of Kieran Powell before making 37 runs off 48 balls in England's failed attempt to chase the score.

His unbeaten 154 helped England recover from 298–9 to post 496 as he and James Anderson shared a world record 10th wicket stand of 198.

Now an integral part of the English set-up, Root was selected in the 2014–15 tour to Sri Lanka to play in the 7 game ODI series.

He also bowled 13 overs and took the wickets of Darren Bravo and key man Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the last innings as the match was drawn.

In the final group match against Sri Lanka he managed to make 25 and take a crucial catch in England's 10 run win, ensuring their place in the semi-final.

England faced New Zealand in the semi-final and were set to chase 154, Root scored 27* from 22 balls to secure a place in the final.

In the final against the West Indies, Root scored 54 from 37 balls in England's 155–9 and took the key wickets of Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles.

Joe Root became only the third player after Shahid Afridi and Marlon Samuels to score a fifty and to take at least a wicket in an ICC World T20 final.

The third Test at Edgbaston was not as memorable, making just 3 in the first innings but then playing a resilient 62 in the second to help England to a total of 445/6 and eventually, a 141 run victory.

They stated that "England's run machine over the years, Joe Root was the glue that held their famed batting together through the tournament.

Root's flawless technique and ability to keep the scoreboard moving by rotating the strike and finding the boundaries when required makes him a perfect No.

[83][84] Australia retained the Ashes with a 185 run victory at Old Trafford in the fourth Test, helped by a first innings double hundred from the returning Steve Smith, as Root made scores of 71 and 0.

[100] England lost the match; Root returned to captain the side to a 2–1 series victory, with his most significant innings being a score of 68 not out to set up a declaration in the final Test.

[103][104] Root led England for the two match Test series against Sri Lanka, which was previously postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was part of his highest Test score to date of 262, his sixth double-century, and in the same innings he shared an England record stand of 454 with Harry Brook.