As Michael Atherton remarked in The Times, it was sad that Ted Dexter didn’t live long enough to watch Joe Root’s innings at Headingley on Thursday. Dexter was a great admirer of Root and had given him good advice a couple of years ago when the England captain was out of form – out of luck too – and was tinkering with his game. Dexter, who always insisted that batting is “a sideways game”, would surely have delighted in the way Root played. I am not sure I have ever seen him bat better, rarely with such freedom. His hundred came up in around three hours, very fast for these days when over rates are so slow.