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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Daniel Gallan

Strapple, greeble, slog and kiss: how cricket’s language turns a game of numbers into poetry

Joe Root plays a shot through the off side
Joe Root’s guide/caress/dab has become the perfect embodiment of a supremely gifted athlete in complete control. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

Joe Root shifts his weight forward, rising with the lifting ball from back of a good length. As it nears his body he moves his hands and bat towards the ball. In one seamless motion, with the ball under his eyes, he adjusts his weight back a touch, twisting his wrists to open the face of the blade. He lets the ball come to him before directing it through the gap between third slip and gully.

That is a lot of words to say that Joe Root has yet again steered one behind square for four.

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