Background and Career Start

He was born to an upper-class family. He father was a businessman and his mother was a teacher. He started playing the game when he was just 5 years old. He was later chosen for the under 17 group that needed an all-round player who could bat also. He started off as a batsman but later decided to become a bowler instead. He gave some great exhibitions for the group and helped the group win matches.

He changed his style and concentrated more on rocking the bowling as the group required it. He soon turned a very good spin bowler. His irregular style of knocking down some pins confused most batsmen around and he soon turned into an extremely desired bowler in England. He started playing for Northamptonshire in the first class cricket before being selected for the under 19 team. He soon got to be distinctly known for rocking the bowling spins that wasn't achievable by the batsmen.

After he retired, Graeme described to ESPN how it felt to be playing un the under 19 team, “You're not street-smart at all. In some ways that's a brilliant thing, especially in the case of Joe Root. The first time he played Test cricket he was like a wide-eyed kid. It's like with young golfers - they always hit aggressive putts because they haven't missed one that's cost them £5000. By the time they're 30, they've got the yips. Root didn't have a care in the world. To be honest, playing for England back then, I knew I didn't deserve it. I was a complete charlatan on that tour - picked on the back of one good England Under-19 match and a game I played on TV for Northants.”

Pro Career

He was an important player in the team that saw the English group secure the Ashes for the first time since 1980. His knocking down of some pins was the primary reason behind the England team’s ability to win the Ashes.

His best performance in a test match was against Bangladesh when he took 10 wickets giving out 217 runs in 2010. He single-handedly won the match for his team there. He also took 10 wickets against Sri Lanka in 2012. His third 10 wickets haul was against New Zealand in 2013 when he propelled England to another well-deserved victory.

In ODI he took a five-wicket haul once against Australia team in 2009 which the England team won. He was so excited to bring a victory to his country because he felt that the country had a history of always feeling bad for themselves, “To be honest, I don't think it's just the press. I think it's the whole nation. We're very pessimistic. We always fear the worst and I think it permeates through the whole of society. We're not comfortable with winning. Look at America; they love winning teams over there and anyone associated with winning teams is immortalized forever. They've got countless "Halls of Fame". In England we have to go back to 1966 to find sport stars that were really revered. Bobby Moore was probably the last great hero.”