London: Joe Root’s maturity and hunger to learn have marked him out to be a special player, according to Graham Gooch, the Test team batting coach and England’s leading run scorer in Test cricket.

Root confirmed his arrival in Ashes with a Man of the Match performance in the Lord’s Test which vindicated the decision to promote him to open the batting with Alastair Cook. Root has now made two centuries in eight Tests since his debut in Nagpur in December and, at the age of 22, is set to follow Cook by establishing himself as a Test player.

In the past, English batsman have taken a long time to mature into Test cricketers but Root has taken every challenge in his stride, apart from a small blip in form on the tour to New Zealand in March.

“For every country in the world, sometimes players get thrown up who are not only skilful, have good disciplines and good habits but are very mature characters for young men,” said Gooch.

“I think from the first time we all experienced Joe in India, a few months back, it was quite evident that this lad was very mature mentally, had a good work ethic and was very keen to learn.

“One of the most important ingredients for a sportsman is he was prepared to drive his own career forward. He’s not waiting for advice; he’s seeking it. He’s seeking information, looking for new ideas. “It was not a surprising decision when he forced his way into the side on merit at Nagpur in that Test, and he’s gone on and on.”

A wise old owl such as Gooch is wary of making bold predictions for Root who has been compared by some observers to Michael Vaughan and even Len Hutton.

He has already eclipsed Vaughan by making an Ashes hundred at Lord’s, becoming the first Yorkshireman to do so with his 180 in the second Test since Hutton and Willie Watson both scored centuries in 1953. “One innings doesn’t make you a regular for a long period of time. He’s shown good promise. He still needs to be tested in different conditions,” said Gooch.

“He’s not a complete player like nobody is a complete player. He’s a young player with great promise and great skill and anyone who sees him play would think that he’s going to have a fruitful career, but you can’t be sure.”

Gooch believes the rise of Twenty20 cricket is now eating away at batting techniques that are exposed by the demands of Test cricket.

“Anyone can concentrate for 15 minutes but to score a Test hundred you need to concentrate for a long period of time and those skills I think worldwide are being chipped away at the edges by the amount of one-day and T20 cricket.

“There is a lot of different competitions. If you’re a traditionalist and still think Test cricket is the benchmark, you can see the possibility of them chipping away at the edges of the traditional game.

“So you’ve got to work hard to try and keep your players on track and try and educate them as well as you can on the mental skills that are necessary to bat long. It is a different kind of skill.”

Meanwhile, James Anderson said the team were optimistic Kevin Pietersen would be fit for the third Test.

Pietersen was off the field when the side completed a 347-run win over Australia in the second Test at Lord's.

The South Africa-born shotmaker tweeted on Monday he was “stuck on a sofa tightly fastened to an ice machine” in a bid to be ready to play at Manchester's Old Trafford where the third Test starts on August 1.

And Anderson said: “As far as I know it was a strain so we’ll keep our fingers crossed that he’ll be fine for the Old Trafford Test. For him more than most, the next 10 days will be crucial, a lot of rehab and trying to get himself fit for next week — which we’re all hoping he will be.”