Joe Root has revealed he regrets not being more aggressive and sticking to his beliefs during his time as England Test captain.
Root is England's longest-serving skipper, having taken charge of 64 Tests and recording 27 wins and 26 defeats. He resigned in April following one win in 17 games and has since admitted the role had left him feeling "like a bit of a zombie".
His close friend Ben Stokes succeeded him and has enjoyed a dream start, leading England to six Test wins this summer for the first time since 2004. And Root has urged Stokes and any other future England captains to "fight as hard as you possibly can" to "make sure you are doing things the way you believe is the right way".
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Root admitted: "Maybe towards the back end of my captaincy, I did become a little bit cautious because of the way the team had been set up to play during that phase. If you look at the start of my captaincy, the majority of it was on the slightly more aggressive side of things.
"That's the cricket I enjoy playing the most. Now I've had time to sit back and look at it, that's where as a team we'll have most success, when we're more aggressive as a team. I just think it suits the mindset of the English game at the moment to be slightly more forward thinking, more aggressive.
"One of the things I wish I could have done slightly differently was stand by my beliefs a little bit firmer instead of going with the thought process of others around me or getting sucked into a view of what the general feel is for how we want to play. I would like to have been more aggressive towards the back end of my captaincy.
"If I could pass on advice to a future captain who comes into the job with the same lack of experience I had, I would say more than anything if at any stage you are questioning the way something is, or the team that you have, then be really firm with what you want and make sure you go out there and you have got full belief in what you want to achieve with the players you want to play with and fight as hard as you possibly can for that. You have been given the opportunity to lead this team, lead it yourself, make sure you are doing things the way you believe is the right way."
Root is enjoying the positive and aggressive cricket England are playing under Stokes and new coach Brendon McCullum and has insisted they will stick to their principles no matter what. "I'm not envious of the way Ben is doing things because I am a part of it and I get a chance to influence it," he added.
"We did some of the same things when I took over but then we hit a roadblock when we got battered in Australia and everything got tested and questioned. This team will not question how we go about things. This time, we will make sure we stick to it and we will make sure we are better at it."
