Three years ago, Joe Root was sauntering into the record books as one of England’s greatest ever red ball players, but after another overseas innings defeat as captain, his record could be in danger of being tarnished.
There’s no
denying the talent that he possesses. 16 hundreds and over 7000 runs cover
that, it’s just that since taking over from Alistair Cook there’s been in a
steady decline. Not the first and most certainly not the last England captain
to suffer this fate, his is one of the starkest – averaging 13 runs less in his
34 Tests in charge than the 53 he had under the stewardship of Cook before him.
In this
first test at Mount Maunganui it took him 20 balls to get off the mark in the
first innings, not a hallmark of the typically fluent Yorkshireman, before
nicking off a ball later, it happens. Root is an experienced player now. Only
Ross Taylor has played more games than him from the 22 that took the field.
He has been
in these positions before and should have the nous to battle through and drag
his side with him. To make a significant contribution, a large score or take a
meaningful amount of time from the game. Neither of these happened and England
once again slipped to an innings defeat overseas.
The second
innings dismissal was so much worse. Colin de Grandhomme, a man with only one
wicket to his name from a short ball someone managed to get the England captain
caught at gully with a 77mph bouncer. Fending outside his off stump whilst
trying to bat out the day showed everyone the many signs of a scrambled and
distracted mind.
Root’s
contemporary’s in the world of cricket in Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and
Virat Kohli have all proved that leading from the front in Test cricket is
possible and captaining your country can be beneficial for your game.
It might be
too much to say he should be matching those giants of the game, but he should
certainly compete with them. He is an elite player, with only possibly Ben
Stokes having more talent than him. Rediscovering his form is key right now,
with a potentially captaincy defining tour of South Africa coming up early next
year. Runs in Hamilton will give a much-needed boost mentally whilst a first
win in 15 attempts in Australia or New Zealand can kick start this young
England side’s progression into a side that they have the potential to be.
Losing
England’s greatest ever run scorer to retirement last year and not having the
highest ever
wicket taker due to injury, something his predecessors haven’t had
to worry about too much hasn’t helped much. That’s a huge amount of experience
and talent that needs replacing quickly and over the past few years England
haven’t had the best record of selection, handing out 25 new caps since 2016,
only seven of them playing 10 or more games since then. They aren’t signs of a
settled side.
Throw in a
revolving door of opening batsmen and constant movement between three and four
in the batting order and you’ve suddenly got a bit of a list of mitigating
factors for Root’s sudden and desperate loss of form.
He has had
plenty of great moments during his tenure though. A ton against South Africa in
his first Test as captain, a 3-0 win in Sri Lanka and an unbeaten record in
home series so far punctuated with a run of eight wins in nine games last year
certainly suggest he is the right man for the job, he’s just on a bad run.
Whatever the
case, England and Cricket in general is much more enjoyable to watch when Joe
Root is scoring runs.
Comments
Post a Comment