England opener Alex Lees has joked that Joe Root owed him one of his centuries after getting run out by the former captain on Day 4 of the rescheduled fifth Test against India at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
Lees had a good outing with the bat during his side’s chase of 378 as he smashed a tremendous half-century and was looking set to cruise through. However, in the 25th over, bowled by Ravindra Jadeja, Lees met an unfortunate run-out which cut short his stay in the middle.
It all happened on the first ball of the over when the Yorkshire batter inside edged a Jadeja delivery to a short fine leg and started running to the other end when he saw Root rushing towards him. However, the call by Root cost Lees as the latter could not reach the non-striker’s end in time after Jadeja picked up the throw from Mohammed Shami and dismantled the stumps.
“Yeah, I mean, he (Joe Root) could lend me one of his Test 100’s. He has got plenty of them. But no, yeah, I mean, I saw him briefly when he came off the field and, obviously, gutted. I think that, on a personal level, obviously being run-out in two innings now is, obviously, quite hard to take,” said Lees in the presser after the end of the day’s play.
“But the pleasing thing, for me, is that we are in an amazing position as a team, and I have run-out people in my career – it is a horrible feeling. It is nothing that you obviously mean to do. So yeah, I mean, he (Joe Root) is a top guy and, hopefully, he will get the job done tomorrow (lead England to victory on Tuesday),” added Lees.
