News about Joe Root

The cricketers complied but were distressed at the timing after Baker was found dead in his apartment on Thursday, May 2. The UK Anti-Doping agency apologised but club officials were 'angry and dismayed' and the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) has expressed their 'shock'. UKAD's spot-testing visit was scheduled but the club was not notified in advance, as is protocol.

Three-quarters of England's male professional cricket stars fear for their safety when travelling home late after matches, with the players' union urging the ECB to come up with a less congested fixture list to avoid a 'disaster' at the wheel. The revelation comes after the Professional Cricketers' Association canvassed opinion from the 18 first-class counties, with 81 per cent of players arguing the schedule 'causes physical concerns' and 76 per cent worried about 'unsafe travel'. The domestic calendar, said a PCA statement, was 'not fit for purpose'. Former Test captain Joe Root said: 'The creation of minimum standards to protect travel windows and player welfare is non-negotiable.' 

A day after his passing, a video of an interview with the spinner on the back of signing a new contract and returning from injury last summer has emerged and makes for heartbreaking viewing. Baker (pictured), then 19, had just put pen to paper on a new contract to stay at Worcestershire until the end of the 2025 season. He went onto make a total of 47 appearances for his county after turning pro in 2021, with two coming earlier on this year.

Worcestershire CCC have opened a book of condolences at New Road, their home ground. Meanwhile, county players across the land including Joe Root paid tribute to the talented spinner. Family and friends were concerned after the Worcestershire spinner failed to show up for the start of play on day three of his team's match against Somerset on Thursday.

Exclusive INTERVIEW BY PAUL NEWMAN Shoaib Bashir discusses the time he was plucked from nowhere to bowl for England at some of the best players of spin in world cricket. The Bashir tale is a thrilling one. Why England turned into a rookie for one of the most difficult Test cricket assignments, released by Surrey at 17 years old and beginning his first tentative steps with Somerset. England's series in India may have resulted in a 4-1 loss, but the decision to cast three spinners - Bashir, Tom Hartley, and Rehan Ahmed - with no senior experience into the deep end and seeing them all swim was a triumph for the team. Bashir, who had played just six Championship games and taken ten expensive wickets before England picked him based on Ben Stokes' hunch, emerged as the most promising of the lot.

As England considers their wicketkeeping options going into the new season, LAWRENCE BOOTH claims he would profit from a move to No. 6 in the Test team. Foakes has spent his entire Test career at No. 7, two or three places lower than Surrey, and he has made his best Test contributions for England when batting with a top-order teammate rather than the tail. He and Joe Rootman maneuvered England into a good position in the fourth Test in Ranchi, which had a landslide of 113. Foakes were generally on the lower order and looked confused about whether to stick or twist. He ended the series with an average of 20 runs, while Test batting average dropped below 30 runs, which was the minimum requirement for a modern Test wicketkeeper. The heat is on, not for the first time in his stop-start international career.

Jimmy Anderson and Ben Stokes, England's top Test players, will be conspicuous by their absence at the start of the County Championship season. Anderson, 41, is said to be considering a shorter lead-in rather than trying to string a string of Division One matches together with Lancashire as he has in the recent past. During the first innings of Somerset's tour to Emirates Old Trafford last year, the veteran seamer appeared four times in a month but was left sweating on his fitness ahead of the Ashes when he tweaked his groin and dropped to fourth place.

Nottingham Forest has threatened to leave the City Ground as a result of a council election over rent - and the city has no fewer than four options for a new home. The club leases the property on which their historic base has been built since 1898, who are now demanding that the £250,000 rent be increased to £1 million. Chairman Tom Cartledge said that unless there was "real progress," they would have to 'look elsewhere.' The HS2 could be bought elsewhere and now not needed.

PAUL NEWMAN OF DHARAMSHALA: England crashed to a humiliating loss in three days today to bring an end to their tour of India on a dim note as they were bundled out for 195. England's six-wicket-list Test was thwarted by five wickets and 64 runs, leaving Ravichandran Ashwin for 77 runs.

RICHARD GIBSON: England made a gruesome day one in their fifth Test after only making 218 in Dharamshala. England recovered from 137 for two to 218 all out in 57.4 overs after winning consolation in a series they trail 3-1. England lost Jonny Bairstow in his 100th Test, Joe Root and Ben Stokes in eight wickets, triggering a tumultuous afternoon session, ending in eight wickets for eight runs in a tumultuous afternoon session.

NASSER HUSSAIN: Forget any discussion about Bazball's merits; what England has lacked during this series in India is a ruthless streak to get through tough times. They haven't been able to prevent first-innings disasters from happening. It's simple as that. They're expensive, and it's cost them dear. I'm afraid they saved the worst until last, because they went from 100 for one to 183 for eight in the afternoon, which was the most frustrating part of the tour for me.

PAUL NEWMAN IN DHARAMSHALA: Thousands of England supporters who participated in this 'bucket-list' Test were ideally encouraged to enjoy the stunning views of the snow-capped Himalayan mountains. For the alternative, it was safer to watch a complete horror film. This was the most frustrating day of a tour so far, but England had promised a lot but not delivered maddeningly little. Worse than when they lost to a historic loss in Rajkot and even worse than when they threw it all away in Ranchi.

With a five-wicket victory in Ranchi, England succumbered to their first Test series loss under captain Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum's leadership. India went from 177 for seven in response to 353 to hold the first-innings deficit to 46, then England went from 110 for three to 145, with the hosts having no way to prevent 192. After the Test in Ranchi, Mail Sport's Lawrence Booth assigns a score to each of the England players.

With the possibility of a series of losses in India, Ben Stokes' team faced a bleakness. In the third innings, the tourists went from 110 for three to 145, with Ravi Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav ripping into the batting line-up. As England's hopes of triggering a deciding Test faded, Joe Root was ruled out in a marginal DRS decision.

NASSER HUSSAIN: England would have been able to bat with more freedom if they had gone into third innings with a score of 100 or more. As it was, the advantage had been reduced to 46, and when Ravichandran Ashwin defeats Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope in successive balls, it suddenly feels as if the tide has changed. One thing you might have noticed in this Test - Joe Root, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Zak Crawley - have all been keen to play spin on the front foot.

PAUL'S NEWMAN IN RANCHI: Shoaib Bashir praised a'very special moment' after becoming the second youngest England bowler to take a Test five-wicket haul to end his rapid fairy tale climb from county obscurity to the top of the charts. On day two, the 20-year-old off-spinner advanced his head to the Ranchi ground in a Sujud gesture of gratitude after trapping Akash Deep lbw to add to his four wickets, despite India being bowled out for 307, a deficit of 46 runs.

Only days after calling for it to be scrapped, England captain Ben Stokes was rescued by an umpire's call on the Decision Review System. During the third Test against India last week, Stokes was enraged by a controversial DRS call which went against opener Zak Crawley. After umpire Kumar Dharamasena's decision to suspend Crawley out, DRS upheld him, despite pictures revealing that the ball will skip the top of leg-stump.

STUART BROAD: Joe Root recalled one of his best net sessions before the Ranchi Test that Joe Root said he had just enjoyed one of his best net sessions. He had clearly discovered something after a lengthy string of events, and if he's said it before, it usually means he's been on the lookout. However, from some of Ben Stokes' and others' comments about the pitch, it seemed as if a hundred would be worth twice as much as double.

After two days in Ranchi, leading by 134 runs with India 219-7 in their first innings at the start of play, Ben Stokes' side has arguably have the upper hand in the game. England had a 353 from their first innings, aided by an unbeaten 122 from former captain Joe Root, who was back to his best after a tough stretch of form. The Test pitch has been chastised, though Stokes admitted to having never seen anything like it before the game began.

PAUL NEWMAN IN RANCHI: Joe Root, a former England veteran, launched a vociferous defense of the country's modern techniques on Friday night after going back to basics in the fourth Test to give them the opportunity to build pressure on India and push for a historic series-levelling triumph.

After suffering an injury during their Test series in India, England spinner Jack Leach will have surgery on his left knee. When Leach sustained an injury in the field that caused his knee to swell, he was participating in his first Test series since missing the Ashes. Leach, who completed the first Test but missed the second, was sent home from England's Abu Dhabi camp, where they were taking their mid-season break.

Root judged everything to be. Make no mistake: the steel in his eyes as he reached his milestones was in his eyes when he was stung by the criticism of his reverse ramp that cost him his wicket against Jasprit Bumrah in Rajkot. We're used to seeing him play with a smile on his face. Here's how it was as if he was sending everyone a note: I'm Joe Roots and I'm one of the bests in the world. Without the ability to analyze your own game, you won't score 31 Test hundreds and more than 11,500 runs. The captain asked for some self-reflection from his team ahead of this game, and Root has been doing this all his career.

LAWRENCE BOOTH: England defeated India 412 for seven on the first day of their fourth Test on the subcontinent, with Joe Root scoring an unbeaten 106. Roots and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, who was trailing the series 2-1 ahead of the fourth Test in India, have turned from 112 for five. On his debut, India's Akash Deep took three wickets, dismissing England openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley as well as No. 3 Ollie Pope.

As a risk-free unbeaten century united England stabilised England on a dramatic opening day against India in Ranchi, Joe Root defied an unpredictable pitch to return to form. After debutant Akash Deep's three-wicket haul, on a cracked surface providing vital early assistance for India's bowlers, Ben Stokes' dismissal to a Ravindra Jadeja grubber left England on 112 for five at lunch. Root, who hit 12.83 runs in the first three matches, has ended his lean patch with a 106 not out victory, which included a 113-run stand with Ben Foakes as England goes to stumps on 302 for seven runs.