Outstanding Joe Root Showing All the Signs He's England's Captain-in-Waiting

Joe Root walked toward the pavilion at St. George's in Grenada. With his helmet off and his shoulders a little slumped, he looked despondent and his walk was a slow one. A trudge. 

Applause followed him from the wicket to the boundary rope. Reluctantly, he accepted the crowd's appreciation, though it was clear he didn't want to bathe in it. He was furious. 

Root smashed his bat into the ground. When he crossed the rope, he tossed his helmet away. His gloves followed suit. He wouldn't stop shaking his head.

Had you arrived at the ground or tuned in on television at that moment, you'd have assumed he'd failed. Miserably.

He'd made 182. Unbeaten. 

Associated Press

It's possible to interpret such moments as born from selfishness. Because of some lackadaisical running from James Anderson—and a series of cheap dismissals from other team-mates—Root had been denied the chance to reach a deserved double ton. And double tons don't come along regularly.  

But selfishness wasn't it. For other players, maybe, but not for Root. 

Watch the 24-year-old closely, and I mean really watch him—at the crease, at the non-striker's end, with the ball in his hand, in the field—and you'll see there's an intensity to Root. Focus on him intently and you'll see a cricketer simply hell-bent on winning. 

He's incessantly assessing the match situation. He always looks as though he's running through calculations in his head. He does everything with an insatiable hunger—a verve. 

Undoubtedly, youth is a factor. But not all players have what he has. Root's default mentality is: How can I win from here?

Associated Press

It sounds simple, but it's the stuff of leaders—of captains. Good ones. 

Root's frustration upon the close of England's innings wasn't just because he'd been robbed of an important milestone; he was furious that his team had fallen short of what was possible. 

The West Indies were retreating, the ball was soft, the pitch was dead and England's lead was in excess of 150. Everything was in the visitors' favour, but the opportunity wasn't completely taken. The chance to bury the hosts was missed. 

Root had a grumpy demeanor because he knew England were capable of better. And it might cost them a victory Root so desperately wanted. 

He was the one showing the foresight. The leadership. 

He was acting like the captain. 

Associated Press

And there were other similar moments. With the West Indies cruising in their second innings on Friday, Alastair Cook turned to Root with the ball. His task: Build some pressure and pinch a wicket. 

His first 11 balls were all dots. Accurate with a hint of spin. Tidy, essentially. 

He then dropped his 12th delivery short, allowing Kraigg Brathwaite to cut him for three.

Root let go of a howl. He kicked the turf. He ripped his cap away from the umpire and walked to his fielding position with that same shaking head we'd seen earlier in the day. 

The three runs he'd conceded would have been viewed as inconsequential by nearly everyone else in the ground. But to Root they weren't. He saw those runs as releasing the pressure valve. He was viewing those runs in the context of the over, the over in the context of his spell, his spell in the context of the innings, the innings in the context of the match, the match in the context of the series. 

To him, those runs could be the difference between winning and losing. And he showed that.

Associated Press

Later, in the day's closing stages, with a number of his team-mates seemingly coasting, Root was throwing himself around in the field. Despite a sore back, he flung himself to his left at gully to save a boundary from Marlon Samuels. He charged to the boundary to haul in a ball Chris Jordan should have beaten him to. 

And he could be seen clapping. Yapping. Encouraging. Getting in the batsmen's ears. 

At no stage in the day's play did Root's intensity ever let up. His personal contribution was outstanding, but it was more than that. He was England's driving force, the guy pushing harder than anyone for victory. 

He's a leader already.

And he's the captain-in-waiting.