England batsman Joe Root vows to ‘give back’ to cricket after being made an MBE

England batsman Joe Root said cricket can give opportunities to children both on and off the field as he vowed to “give back” to the game.

Root, 33, was made an MBE for services to cricket at Windsor Castle on Wednesday by the Princess Royal.

The batsman also said he wanted cricket to be a sport for everyone, and praised the development of the women’s game in England.

He said: “When you’ve played a little while and you’ve quite a bit of experience like I have, that’s a responsibility that you’re very aware of, and something that you want to try and give back.

“You want to give back to the game as much as you can and try and encourage as many young boys and girls to take up the game because of the opportunities, not just on the field and stuff, but off the field that I’ve been able to experience through cricket.”

Root formerly captained the England Test team and was the leading run scorer in the side that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Asked what his message to aspiring cricketers was, he said: “It sounds quite a negative thing, but cricket is a game of failure.

“And I think being able to embrace failure to understand that it’s part and parcel of that sport, that gives you opportunities to learn and grow and get better.”

Asked about the current state of English cricket, he said: “I think there’s always areas that you want to improve.”

He added: “It’s been amazing to see the women’s game grow as much as it has at the speed it has as well. And hopefully that can continue.”

Asked whether he believed Jos Buttler should stay as the limited overs England captain, he said: “Jos is one of my good friends. I think he’s a brilliant captain so I don’t think there’s any question.”

Ahead of England’s crunch T20 World Cup match against Oman on Thursday, he said: “I think they’ll be absolutely fine, they’ve got a wonderful squad of players. They know exactly what they need to do.

“When it’s all laid out and they’ve got their backs to the wall, which they have in this situation now, is when they play their best cricket.

“It could really bring the best out of them so I’ve got no worries whatsoever.

“If they go out and do what they all know that they’re capable of doing, we’ll be finding ourselves in the super eights and the back-end of the tournament where it really matters to play our best stuff.”

The widow of British author Sir Martin Amis was also at Windsor Castle to receive the insignia for her late husband’s knighthood from the Princess Royal.

Lady Amis, the US writer Isabel Fonseca, was given the insignia for the knighthood which was conferred on her husband before his death from cancer at the age of 73 in May last year.

The honour, for services to literature, was announced in the King’s Birthday Honours in June last year.

Former world champion cyclist Lizzie Deignan, who was silver medallist in the road race at the London 2012 Olympics, was also honoured at Windsor after she was made an MBE in the 2023 New Year’s Honours list.

She said that receiving the honour signified a step towards achieving equality for women in sport.

She said: “There’s been many years of fighting for equality in sport, and I think it’s obviously great to be recognised for my contribution to fighting for that equality.

“There’s a platform now for young women to come through that there wasn’t when I was younger.

“The fact that women in sport are being recognised at the highest level alongside men is really fundamental to achieving equality.”

Also at Windsor was Scottish author, historian and broadcaster William Dalrymple, who was appointed CBE in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to literature and the arts.

He admitted that he had “almost missed the ceremony” because he was admiring the art in the Windsor Castle.

He said that when he spoke to Princess Anne at the investiture, she commented on his outfit and joked, “I see the Last Mughul’s gone native”, referring to Dalrymple’s book, The Last Mughal: The Fall Of A Dynasty, Delhi 1857.