Joe Root will become the longest-serving test captain in the country’s history when he leads England in Sydney on Wednesday; Root and head coach Chris Silverwood have come under fire after another failed Ashes season; Ben Stokes rules out talking about replacing Root as captain
Vice Captain Ben Stokes has endorsed Captain Joe Root to continue in the role despite England’s defeat at The Ashes.
Ben Stokes has distanced himself from the role of England’s captain, insisting that Joe Root and head coach Chris Silverwood maintain the full support of the team following their loss to Australia at The Ashes.
When Root leads the team in Sydney on Wednesday, he will become the longest-serving test pattern in the country’s history, surpassing the previous record of 59 matches set by his predecessor Sir Alastair Cook.
But any sense of pride in that accomplishment will be tempered by the fact that, for the third time, he just led an unsuccessful Ashes campaign.
After a 4-0 loss in 2017/18 and a 2-2 draw at home in 2019, he now finds his team 3-0 down and simply hoping to avoid a cover-up.
After four and a half years on the job, it would hardly be considered a radical move if Root or his employers decided it was time for a change.
Neither side has given any indication that they are about to pull the trigger on such a move and now Vice-Captain Stokes, who is considered the only obvious replacement, has distanced himself from any conversation about succession planning.
He has led the test team once before, in a losing cause against the West Indies when Root was at the birth of his second child, but he doesn’t covet the role.
“I never had the ambition to be captain,” he said, referring to the speculation.
“The captaincy is more than setting fields, choosing the team, making decisions in between. A captain is someone you want to go out and play for. Joe Root is someone I always want to play for.
“It’s entirely Joe’s decision. He shouldn’t be forced to. I’m sure Cooky felt the same way. He did it for so long and when he knew his time was up, his time ran out. Those arguments didn’t. have made”. I haven’t been anywhere near Joe yet.
“I don’t feel that at all with Joe. He’s brought this team a long way. He’s done great things. Obviously this series hasn’t gone too well, not from a captaincy point of view, but from a captain’s point of view. of the team and the results “. point of view.”
Stokes also used his considerable position of influence to reassert the position of head coach Chris Silverwood. There’s a feeling that he’s more likely to be a scapegoat than Root when the autopsy concludes, but Stokes did his best to counter that narrative.
“Unfortunately, the captain and the coach stand the scrutiny of (the results), but there are 10 other guys on the field,” he said.
“That’s the job (of the media), to say, ‘Should people resign?’ At the end of the day, the most important opinions of the people are those guys in the locker room and they have our full support.
“Chris Silverwood, the exact same thing. He’s a true player coach. He stands up for them as individuals and players as well. All the hype in the media recently about their future, it’s their job to write that, but they know very well they have the support. of everyone there and that’s all that matters. “
By David Ruse
Joe Root’s golden year was also the worst in England.
The England captain was outstanding with the bat in 2021, racking up 1,708 runs with an average of 61, but the rest of his team was not, which is one of the main reasons they fell to a record nine losses in the season. five day sand. matching Bangladesh’s loss count in 2003.
Root had 1,178 more runs than the next leading scorer, Rory Burns (530). The fact that England’s third-highest number of runs were “extras” gives a clear idea of the batting problems they experienced. Like the record 54 test ducks they bagged, a number that equaled their 1998 number of zeros.
It meant that despite all of Root’s accomplishments with the sword – six centuries, two of them doubles – the third highest performance by a test hitter in a calendar year, he has now suffered the most defeats as captain of the league. England test, with the Yorkshireman. up to 24 losses in 59 games.
Root edged out David Gower (18), Michael Atherton (21) and Sir Alastair Cook (22) during his team’s annus horribilis to become England’s most defeated test skipper, but is also the most successful, having passed the 26 wins for Michael Vaughan when his team beat. India in Leeds in August.
