England captain Joe Root in 'dream world' after century at Lord's
'You want to start well and set an example of how you want lads to approach their cricket'
Friday 7 July 2017 11:03, UK
Joe Root told Sky Sports that he was in "a dream world" after he scored an unbeaten 184 in his first innings as England Test captain.
Root, 26, became the sixth Englishman to post a century in his maiden Test knock as skipper, bringing up the milestone from 150 balls against South Africa on day one of the first Test at Lord's.
The Yorkshireman was given a lifeline on 16 when JP Duminy dropped a sharp chance at gully, while he was also stumped off a Keshav Maharaj no ball on 149 in the evening session.
"It was pretty special, a bit of a dream world to be honest," Root told Ian Ward at the close.
"It was very special obviously - you want to start well and set an example of how you want lads to approach their cricket and preach what you have been saying.
"I rode my luck especially early on - I didn't get my feet going, they felt stuck at times, and South Africa bowled very well and made it difficult.
"But it just seemed to be one of those days where everything fell into place and I managed to capitalise."
Root shared a stand of 114 with Ben Stokes (56) after England had tumbled to 76-4 and then an unbroken partnership of 167 with Moeen Ali (61no) as the hosts closed on 357-5 after electing to bat.
"Credit to the way Stokesy came out and played and then Moeen at the end," added Root. "Two great partnerships have hopefully got us in a position where we can press on and make a really good first-innings score.
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"Ben played his natural game from ball one - he has such a presence at the crease that he can intimidate bowlers at times and today he was really strong in his footwork and made it difficult for them to hold their lines.
"It might be in the second innings and further along in this series that guys at the top of the order [put in scores] - today was my day but looking at the talent in the dressing room those guys will make big scores themselves."
Root added: "The thing I was worried about most was that I tossed the coin right - I brought a quid out with me but [the officials] had three already so I had to use one of those!"
