Even a couple of weeks ago, at the end of a tour of the Caribbean which finished with a desperate defeat in Grenada to leave England with one win in 17 Tests, Joe Root seemed determined to carry on as captan, and certain that he was the right man for the job.
Root’s public utterances were not even “I’ll go away and think about it”, and he appeared to retain the full support of his players, even if many outside the camp wondered why he still wanted a job that is quite so unforgiving, after so long in the post.
He now has gone away and thought about it, spoken to family and loved ones, too, and reached a decision that is not only right for his team, but for himself as well. And that has allowed him to go out as he deserved - on his own terms.
Root recognised that, like his team, he has been jaded by this winter, even if he had always looked to remain chipper in public. He spoke of “the toll taken on me and the impact it has had on me away from the game”. At 31, he can now enter the third and final chapter of his career as run-churning senior pro at No3, hunting down first all of England’s batting records, then the global ones, too. Going now gives a greater chance of the next period being his most fruitful yet.
For the team, new ideas will be welcome. And with a new Director of Cricket, Head Coach and probably National Selector coming over the next few weeks, a clean sweep is helpful. It would have been a shame if Root had clung on long enough that one of them had to push him. In the event, the only person around to thank him in the press release was Tom Harrison, a CEO clearing his desk. Total upheaval is imminent.
History will probably be unkind to Root’s captaincy, because of the manner in which it ended: that dreadful run of defeats and the winter’s low ebbs of Grenada, Melbourne and Hobart.
And while it is true that he could be tactically leaden and England became more and more prone to picking the wrong team, he was a better captain than that final year suggests. There have been limits to what he has been able to achieve, with a modest set of players at an awkward time, but he has been a fine ambassador for the sport, giving it his all. England might be able to find a better cricket brain to lead the team, but there is a bit more to this job than that.
The numbers tell the story of the tumultuous, excessive era: he captained England more than any other man (64 Tests), recorded more wins (27), but also more defeats (26).
Root’s team was slowly broken by the absurd schedule handed to them before and during the pandemic and then, over the last 14 months, they happened to play barometer series’ against the three best teams in the world: India, away then home, New Zealand at home, then Australia away. The rest and rotation policy, a decision made above Root, sent the team into a downward spiral. Their opposition did the rest. When the same mistakes were made after a couple of small steps forward in the Caribbean, it was time to go.
The pandemic must be acknowledged in any judgement of Root’s captaincy. As should the fact that he has been in charge at a time when English cricket has pushed the white-ball game more than ever before.
It is a cruel irony, too, that Root, perhaps England’s greatest ever batter, has been captain at a time when English batting in general sits in a deep malaise. Batters have come and gone, but the collapses have continued. If Root failed, England fans were left to watch through their hands, from behind the sofa.
The tricky bit begins now. There is no obvious candidate to captain the Test team against New Zealand next month. What seems clear is that it is time to stop seeing the captaincy as a long-term job. England only need the right man for the job in their next series, at most the next summer. Pick the best team, and see how things develop.
Root’s vice-captain was Ben Stokes, who is rightly favourite for the role. It would be a huge ask for an all-format all-rounder with recent history of injury, mental health struggles and, of course, off-field ill-discipline.
But Stokes is fully committed to Test cricket, and looked back to his focused, fit best in the Caribbean. If managed right, which might mean a return to No6, his favourite batting position, with the right people around him, he is the best available candidate.
The others are not in the team, and even in these strange times that is too much of a punt. It does feel a misstep not to have taken a county captain with Test experience like Rory Burns, James Vince or Sam Billings to the Caribbean, with half an eye on the future, but that was always a squad designed to shore up Root’s captaincy, rather than threaten it.
It is not impossible that one of that group is Stokes’ vice-captain this summer; the same could be said of Zak Crawley, who has the feel of a future captain, even if his batting does not always make that obvious. Jonny Bairstow and even Jos Buttler are other candidates for that role.
It would be naive in the extreme to think that a new captain will change England’s fortunes any time soon. But for Root and England’s sake, it is worth a try.
