England vs South Africa: Joe Root in 'dreamworld' after century on debut as Test captain

The Yorkshireman hit 184 on the first day of English Test cricket this summer

Root was the hero of day one at Lord's (Getty)

Joe Root admitted that he is in “dreamworld” after battling illness and riding his luck to hit an unbeaten 184 in his first innings as England Test captain at Lord’s against South Africa. Root came in with England struggling but dominated the rest of the day, profiting after being dropped twice early on and then stumped off a no-ball on 149.

So it was not a chanceless innings but Root said that those moments of good fortune made him realise that it was meant to be his day. “I enjoyed every minute of it,” Root said. “At times I rode my luck, but you need to on occasions.”

Root admitted he could not believe how well his day went, or how fortunate he was. “Especially getting dropped once, just chipping someone on the boundary and then getting a reprieve as well,” he said. “It seemed to fall into place today. When you get a life early you feel like it is your day, and you’ve got to try and make the most of it. This was one of those occasions.”

Root should have been caught in the deep by Aidan Markram when he top-edged a hook off Kagiso Rabada but the ball flew just over the fielder’s head and went for four. “I started walking back, I thought I’d hit it straight to him,” Root admitted. “But as I said, lucky was on my side today and it could have been very different. When you do get lives like that in Test cricket, you have to make the most of them. I was just pleased I got a few more later on.”

Then Root was stumped off Keshav Maharaj on 149 only to be reprieved because Maharaj bowled a no-ball. Root said he had never got off following such an error by a spinner. “It’s a nice feeling getting that call-back after a glaring error,” Root smiled.

What made Root’s innings even more impressive was the fact that he struggled with a bad cold, which meant he could barely speak in the post-match press conference. “I felt pretty groggy this morning, I didn’t wake up great, but there was nothing that was going to stop me from enjoying the day,” Root said.

“It’s obviously an amazing opportunity and a privilege to be England captain. I wanted to make sure I went out there and made the most of everything. A cold wasn’t going to get in the way.”