Joe Root centuries have not been as unusual since the beginning of 2021 as they once were, in the Conversion Rate Years.
Having made one in the First Test in Antigua, he has seven in that time. This was trademark Root: the elegant, energetic, unobtrusive elimination of risk. Its most memorable aspect was the celebration, when he kissed a necklace made for him by his son Alf, aged five. It came with the usual stream of statistics: his 24th in Tests, taking him past Kevin Pietersen into second place for England; his 13th as captain, past Alastair Cook for the most by an Englishman.
