So Joe Root has followed his bosses by leaving his elevated position in English cricket, this time by his own volition. It seems longer ago than five years since Sir Alastair Cook made the same self-sacrificing decision but the cycle was up. Like Olympiads or pre-Brexit general elections, four to five years seem to be the default span of a ‘permanent’ England Test captain and that’s probably enough strain for anyone to take when you’re successful, let alone struggling with results.
It does seem quite a paradox that a
nation on top of the world when it comes to one-day cricket should have lost
its way in the five-day format but that is the way of the sport in the
twenty-first century. They are different beasts requiring slightly different skill
sets and, especially, tactics and strategy. If the schedule wasn’t so onerous,
Joe Root wouldn’t simply be the best England Test batsman of his generation
(and, without any exaggeration, probably my own six-decade lifetime) but also
in ODIs and T20. Shot-making, timing and all-round cricketing intelligence work
in any format. It’s the same for Kohli, Williamson and Smith, to name but three.
Yet when England lose a few Ashes series
and cone a cropper in the Caribbean, who ya gonna blame? The skipper! When
England played well a few years ago, his captaincy wasn’t questioned. Unleash Anderson,
Broad and Stokes, supported by whoever was deemed to be in form or in the Surrey/Yorkshire
squads, hope Root’s openers survive the new ball and we’d have a decent chance.
However, once the venerable seam and swing pairing began to show their age and
young batsmen honed on the biff-bash stuff failed to demonstrate the required
levels of patience and consistency, the Yorkshireman’s days at the helm were
numbered.
Analysts and commentators wiser than me
admit Joe is no great shakes when it comes to bowling changes, use of spinners
or getting the most out of your team-mates. Let’s face it, most England
captains are picked on their likelihood of making the team on a regular basis
rather than their proven leadership ability in domestic cricket. Nasser Hussain
and Mike Atherton were exceptions, but the latter’s much-vaunted pedigree was
of little assistance in the era of Australian supremacy and improving Pakistan
and South Africa, when selection was controlled by one or two fuddy-duddies
As for the current dilemma, we don’t even
know who will make the decision to appoint Root’s replacement given the top roles
remain unfilled. It’s already late-April so they had better get moving. Strauss
and Cook quit both the captaincy and international playing careers but
fortunately Root will continue on the pitch where in 2021 and 2022, he has almost
single-handedly saved England from suffering even greater ignominy.
Ben Stokes is a hot favourite to take
over but, yet again, that seems based entirely on his status as our only world-class
all-rounder. The trouble is, the Durham star doesn’t seem entirely suited mentally
to the rigours of playing three formats plus that lucrative IPL contract. It
seems bizarre picking as captain someone who will miss most of the games and is
no provenance as senior leader. Eoin Morgan has overseen success in ODIs but hardly ever plays proper cricket these days
Of this summer’s England-qualified county
skippers, only James Vince, Tom Westley, Steven Patterson and Rory Burns would
appear to be strong contenders. Patterson’s a bowler which in most minds rules
him out. Burns might need to rediscover form at The Oval with the bat and Vince
to prove himself as more than just a quality fifty-over man. Could it be the
Essex middle-order batter? I wouldn’t dismiss his credentials out of hand but
at 33 he is probably too old to last the five-year period, which is a pity. He’d
get my vote but, let's face it, it'll be Stokes...
