India v England: Why majestic Joe Root stands among Yorkshire and England’s greatest - Chris Waters

At Headingley in 1952, Trueman helped to reduce India to 0-4 on his debut, followed up with 8-31 in the Old Trafford Test and ended the series with 29 wickets in the four games at 13.31.

With his Yorkshire team-mate Len Hutton topping the run-scoring charts with 399 at 79.80, having been appointed England’s first professional captain, England won the rubber 3-0 with only rain preventing a whitewash.

Trueman, who died in 2006, and Hutton, who passed away in 1990, are two of Yorkshire and England’s greatest cricketers, their achievements still fondly recalled by many of our readers who saw them in the flesh.

That the name of Joe Root can be included in that number is entirely beyond doubt, the England captain marking his 100th Test appearance in the only way that he was likely to mark it on present form – with a hundred, his 20th in Test cricket (one more than Hutton) as England reached 263-3 on the opening day of the series in Chennai.

What is there left to say about this remarkable fellow?

Root’s form is, as Trueman used to emphasise the word, “un-be-liev-able”, and even “Fiery Fred” might have struggled to pin this lad t’bloody sightscreen.

Only nine players have celebrated their 100th Test with a century, and Root is the third Englishman after Colin Cowdrey and Alec Stewart. The others, for the record, are Javed Miandad, Gordon Greenidge, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla.

Technically, it means that Root, 30, is the second man to have played for Yorkshire to achieve the feat, given that Inzamam played six matches for the club in 2007, although Inzamam’s 100th Test pre-dated that spell.

Ponting is unique in having scored twin centuries in his 100th Test, although unique perhaps for only for a day or so given the way that Root is batting right now.

Of course, Root will hope that he only has to bat once and that England can make a sufficiently towering first innings total to put heavy pressure on India, who went into the game fresh from their outstanding 2-1 triumph in Australia.

That aspiration took a knock when England lost Dominic Sibley in the last over, trapped lbw as he played around a full delivery from Jasprit Bumrah, having grafted the whole day for 87 and shared 200 exactly with Root, who closed on 128.

England recovered strongly after losing Rory Burns and Dan Lawrence with the score on 63 just before lunch, Burns gloving to the wicketkeeper as he tried to reverse-sweep Ravi Ashwin and Lawrence falling lbw for a fifth-ball duck as he played around Bumrah.

Lawrence, of course, playing only his third Test, would not have been batting at No 3 had Zak Crawley not slipped and sprained his wrist in the build-up to the game and Jonny Bairstow – England’s No 3 in Sri Lanka – not been rested for the first two Tests. But that, as they say, is another story.

On the first day of the series, the story was all about Root, whose century was his third in successive Tests after innings of 228 and 186 in Sri Lanka.

The pitch in Chennai was the archetypal road and it was certainly a good toss for England to win, but Root played handsomely once more, conveying the impression of a man in the form of his life.

Root swept skilfully, manipulated the field silkily and struck 15 boundaries in a masterclass performance.

The only real signs of discomfort came when he suffered cramp towards day’s end, Virat Kohli, the India captain, sportingly helping him to stretch out his right leg and suppressing any fiendish inclination to stretch it so hard that it snapped the hamstring – just about India’s only hope of seeing the back of him, perhaps.

For some, it might have been the first time that they had seen Root at all, given that it was the first Test match aired on terrestrial television in this country since 2005.

Those watching on Channel 4 might have been tempted to reach for the mute button, as Trueman used to do, as the various commentators and summarisers kept up the modern tradition of talking too much – sometimes even when the ball was being bowled. But at least cricket is back, however fleetingly, on terrestrial screens.

For now, let us celebrate Root and this latest achievement, which brought the broadest of smiles to the folk of the Broad Acres. And, no doubt, looking down from the great pavilion in the sky, to Messrs Trueman and Hutton, too.

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