Joe Root Quotes

I want to test myself, playing with the best and against the best. I can do that at international level, so that's my target and what I want to reach.

I never thought I'd be a senior player in a county side, let alone the England side. When you break into a county side, that is your aim, so it's an incredible feeling to have achieved that with England.

It's important to make sure your players have the mindset that playing international cricket is still the ultimate form of cricket.

I always wanted to play against the best.

The West Indians and Pakistanis play one-day cricket so well because they play for English counties.

I think all players reach a point in their career where it's natural to lose some of that hunger, that desire, to sort of break out or be a star.

There's no day when I don't think it would be great to be 25 years old and have the Olympics coming in less than 300 days - and be the best in the world. I can't think of anything so motivating.

When you're a kid, you dream about playing cricket for a living, playing for your county and then your country.

I dreamt of playing for Lancashire then but never really thought it would happen.

When I played against Chelsea, there was always a big motivation because it was a special game; it was always one of the biggest games of the season. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to join Chelsea: because I want to be part of this kind of team.

I want to be one of the best.

All I can focus on is playing as many games as I can at the highest level. If that leads me to the World Cup, then brilliant. It's certainly a target of mine.

I can honestly say I want to be one of the best to ever play the game.

I always wanted to play at the highest level. I didn't care what sport it was; I just wanted to play at the highest level.

Of course, I won't lie - I like to break records.

A lot of people said I left Nottingham Forest for the wrong reasons, but that wasn't true. I wanted to play for a top team like Chelsea.

I haven't got years and years left so I want to compete against the best.

My deal, I want to be the best to ever play the game and I try to bring that same energy for my team, laying it all on the line for them.

I have always said that I want to play at the highest level.

You want to play against the best - at least I do. I want to go out there and compete against the best players.

Every young cricketer from our county dreams of playing for Yorkshire and going on to represent England.

When I came into football, my whole identity was to be one of the best players in the world, if not the best player, and for me, that is what is driving me each and every day.

Every young player is hungry to play and to win titles as they have seen their idols do it.

The Premiership is where you want to be; everyone does. Otherwise, you question people's ambition.

Before I made my Test debut, I had played nearly nine years of first-class cricket.