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Joe Root has hit back at Darren Lehmann after the former Australia head coach said that the England batter was not an “all-time great”.
Root goes into the series against New Zealand ranked as the world’s number one Test batter but found himself at the centre of an early start to the traditional Ashes war of words this week.
Former Australia batter Lehmann, commentating on TV in Australia this week, declared that Root was a “rung below” contemporaries Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith due to the lack of a Test century Down Under.
“That’s the only thing stopping Joe Root,” Lehmann told ABC. “He’s a great player, but is he an all-time great? I don’t have him in that realm.”
Root, who has more Test runs and more Test centuries than his fellow members of the so-called ‘big four’, was unmoved by the comments.
“My job is to score runs, right? His job is to give his opinion and talk on the radio,” he said.
“I’ll do my job and he can do his job. He’s completely entitled to say what he wants. I’ve not spoken to him for a while but, like I said, he’s got a job to do. That’s his right.”
Root hopes England and New Zealand can provide a “humdinger” of a series in honour of the late Graham Thorpe and Kiwi great Martin Crowe.
The teams will compete over the next three Tests for ownership of the newly-minted Crowe-Thorpe Trophy, fashioned out of wood taken from bats belonging to the pair.
Thorpe took his own life earlier this year after a long battle with depression, while Crowe died in 2016 due to cancer.
The duo scored 33 Test centuries between them and have now been remembered in a collaboration between the England and Wales Cricket Board and New Zealand Cricket.
Root, who worked closely with Thorpe during the latter’s coaching career at the ECB and counted him as a close friend and mentor, welcomed the news.
“I think it’s amazing, a really nice way to celebrate two greats from each nation,” he said.
“The influence Thorpey had on my career is unrivalled really. To get to work with him for so long – the hours, time, effort and energy he put into my game – I’ll be forever grateful for all he did for me.
“It’s nice to have something to play for in his name and similarly for Crowey as well. Hopefully the two teams represent the way they played and we’ll have a humdinger of a series.”
Thorpe made his career-best score of 200 not out against the Black Caps in Christchurch, where the first Test gets under way at 10pm GMT on Wednesday, and the new trophy, which features a recreation of his handwriting, will be unveiled by his former captain Michael Atherton and Crowe’s sister Deb at the Hagley Oval.
Richard Gould, chief executive of the ECB, said: “Martin and Graham are two legends of the game, and it is fitting that Test series between our two men’s sides will now be contested in their name.
“It’s heartbreaking to have lost both men so early, but by honouring them in this way I hope we can help ensure the memories and legacies of two of our nations’ finest cricketers live on long into the future.”
PA
