Award winning batsman Joe Root hoping to lay down England roots
Yorkshire batsman Joe Root hopes to be included in the England squad for their tour to India after winning the Cricket Writers Club's Young Cricketer of the Year award on Monday.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: September 17, 2012 11:56 PM IST
Yorkshire batsman Joe Root hopes to be included in the England squad for their tour to India after winning the Cricket Writers Club's Young Cricketer of the Year award on Monday.
Root has been tipped as a potential replacement for retired skipper Andrew Strauss at the top of the England batting order and the 21-year-old admits he has received a call from the selectors ahead of Tuesday's squad announcement.
Root wouldn't be drawn on whether he will be named in the touring party, but his form this season suggests he will have been firmly in the selectors' discussions.
Root, who learned his early cricket at Sheffield Collegiate CC as did former England captain and opening batsman Michael Vaughan, scored 746 runs in 15 first-class matches this year, including a best of 222 not out, to help Yorkshire win promotion from the Second Division of the County Championship.
He also showed his international pedigree by scoring a century for the England Lions reserve team against West Indies.
"I have had a call but I can't say anything more than that. There is a press conference tomorrow morning. You always want to play at the highest level," Root said after being given his award by former England batsman David Gower at the CWC award ceremony in London.
Meanwhile, the inaugural County Championship Cricketer of the Year award went to Somerset batsman Nick Compton.
Compton, 29, could also be in the reckoning for promotion to the Test squad after coming within a whisker of becoming the first batsman in almost a quarter-of-a-century to pass 1,000 first-class runs before the end of May.
He scored 1,191 runs in championship fixtures at an average of more than 99 - with four hundreds, seven 50s and a best of 204 not out.
Compton, the grandson of England great Denis Compton, pipped Durham fast bowler Graham Onions to the award.