Joe Root is England’s greatest batsman of all time regardless of when he breaks Alastair Cook’s Test runs record, writes NASSER HUSSAIN

Whether Joe Root overtakes Alastair Cook’s England Test record of 12,472 runs in this game or the next, we already know we’re looking at arguably this country’s greatest ever batter.

It’s difficult to compare eras, and I can only comment on the players I’ve seen, but Root combines the flair of Kevin Pietersen, the penchant for match-defining innings of Graham Gooch, and the hunger for runs of Cook.

He’s ticked all the boxes you want from a great batsman. You’re there to score runs, win games for your country, show people how much it means, and be an ambassador for the sport. Root has done that over a very long period.

What I also love is that he’s kept the promise he made to himself as a young lad playing for Sheffield Collegiate: if he ever played for England, he’d always remember the fun cricket has brought him.

Yes, he’s elegant to watch, and the rhythm of his batting is incredible. But to have kept a smile on his face throughout 146 Tests, when it’s easy to be ground down by your own form or the captaincy, is remarkable.

Root, 33, was the Player of the Series when England beat Sri Lanka at home earlier this year

He’s a very good player of pace and a great player of spin, as he’s shown in Sri Lanka and India. And he’s answered critics who questioned his conversion-rate of fifties into hundreds, with four centuries alone so far in 2024.

The one gap on his CV is big runs in Australia, which he can rectify next winter on their beautiful pitches. Perhaps he’s got into trouble at times trying to play that little dab through the cordon, which brings him so many runs in England but can come unstuck on the bouncier surfaces down under.

But he’s only getting better, and I like the way he’s responded to the flak he got for getting out to the reverse scoop in Rajkot in February.

At the start of the summer, I felt there would be a correlation between the number of reverse scoops he played and the degree of Bazball England’s batting reset. Well, he’s not played many, and since Rajkot he’s averaged 75.

Root has scored 12,402 runs across 267 innings during his Test career since his debut in 2012

Alastair Cook, 39, is currently England’s leading Test runs scorer with 12,472 in 291 innings

I think both he and England have realised that he’s too good a player to be taking risks like that. Yes, the shot has brought him runs, but why not let Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley and Jamie Smith play the big shots, and allow Root to play his own, world-class game.

He’s already overtaken Cook’s 33 Test hundreds, but I just hope Root keeps going well beyond his run tally too – and underlines why he is England’s generational talent with the bat.