LONDON:
England’s decision to reappoint Joe Root for a second spell as full-time Test captain, starting with this week’s opener against Pakistan, is an obvious move but arguably an indictment of the lack of leadership in their set-up.
Root, one of the best batsmen of his generation, has already led England in a national record 65 Tests, mainly during a five-year spell from 2017-2022.
He initially stood down as skipper following a dire run of one win in 17 Tests.
“The last couple of years, it (the captaincy) sucked the life out of me,” he said a few months later on a podcast. “I was a shadow of the person I wanted to be… Once I’d made the decision it was a real relief.”
But, despite a modest return of 27 wins, 27 defeats and 11 draws as Test captain, Root is putting himself through it all again.
England have no realistic alternative after former skipper Ben Stokes’s dramatic announcement during the third Test at home to New Zealand in June that he was retiring from international cricket.
Harry Brook, vice-captain under Stokes, is already the skipper of England’s white-ball teams and it may have been too much to expect him to lead the side in all three formats.
It was Brook’s altercation with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand in November last year which led England to impose a midnight curfew.
When Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson were omitted from the second Test against New Zealand after breaking that curfew in a London bar, Root was installed as acting captain.
Root announced last week he is ditching the curfew.
None of England’s other batsmen besides Brook are certain of their place and none of the bowlers are candidates to be captain, not least because of fitness issues.
Ollie Pope, back in the squad for the first Test against Pakistan at Headingley, has previously been England’s vice-captain.
But after he was replaced in that role by Brook, he was dropped from the team during England’s 4-1 Ashes thrashing in Australia.
‘Different player’
England appear to want Root to remain Test captain until at least the end of next year’s home Ashes.
That is a run of 13 Tests, which also includes a tough tour of South Africa later this year, and a series away to Bangladesh, who on Sunday delivered one of the all-time great upsets with a commanding nine-wicket win away to Australia.
England will hope Root will be a more astute skipper second time around.
“I am a very different player and have a different way of looking at the game than the last time I captained, in a good way,” the 35-year-old said when he was stand-in captain against New Zealand.
But the fear is leadership could render Root, who is in sight of surpassing India hero Sachin Tendulkar as Test cricket’s all-time leading run-scorer, a less effective batsman.
That is the last thing England, who have lost seven of their last nine Tests, need as they look to move on from the Bazball era.
Root said earlier this month he would not “rip up” the playbook of ultra-aggressive cricket but rather “tweak” things, in the hope of guiding England to the kind of series wins over powerhouses India and Australia that eluded Stokes and former Test coach Brendon McCullum, who remains in charge of the white-ball teams.
England were often accused of arrogance under Stokes and McCullum, especially once results started to go against them.
The three-Test series against Pakistan is set to reveal whether England under Root will be able to turn the tide.