Joe Root admitted that captaincy had become “a very unhealthy relationship” after his first match since passing that potentially toxic baton to Ben Stokes ended with him sealing England’s first Test win in 10 months and scoring both his first fourth-innings century and his 10,000th Test run.
Root gave up the captaincy in April after England followed a disastrous Ashes tour with a series defeat in the West Indies, having found the burdens of leadership increasingly overbearing.
“It had become a very unhealthy relationship, the captaincy and me,” he said. “It started to take a really bad toll on my personal health. I couldn’t leave it at the ground any more, it was coming home. It wasn’t fair on my family, on people close to me, and it wasn’t fair on myself either. I had thrown everything at it and I was determined to help turn this team around but it got to the stage where it was time for someone else to lead, and I can influence it in a different role.”
Root’s innings against New Zealand started relatively quietly before he accelerated as conditions on the field and the match situation altered – he had scored 34 off 89 when Stokes was dismissed on Saturday afternoon, but got 81 off 81 thereafter, ending with the pull for four that sealed a five-wicket win. Afterwards he said repaying his great friend and successor for some stellar performances in the past felt more significant than ticking off individual milestones.
“That’s a great motivator for me moving forward, with the amount of amazing things Ben did for this team under my leadership,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for me in the next phase of my career to do that for him. It meant a huge amount to get over the line. It was very special to get the hundred and reach 10,000 runs, I can’t pretend it wasn’t, but nothing replicates winning games of cricket.
“When you walk through the dressing room and you’re high-fiving the rest of the group and you can see the genuine joy and elation on their faces. That’s the thing I’ve missed the most, I suppose, over the last year and a bit.”
Stokes applauded from the balcony as Root, impeccably supported by Ben Foakes, scored the winning runs. “Everything that he’s spoken about with the captaincy and everything, to see him walk off there, seeing the pure joy to win a game for England in his first game after stepping down as captain, was amazing,” he said.
“We are very close. We’re not just work colleagues. As emotional as it was for him, it was fantastic for me to see a very close friend walk off after leading England to victory.”
If the final morning, thanks to Root, Foakes and a rather benign ball, was notable mainly for its lack of drama, the combination of Stokes and the new coach, Brendon McCullum, should ensure there is plenty of that in future. “Even last night, when Foakes was going out to bat Baz [McCullum] wanted to send Broady out to go and have a slog, just score 30 to 40 runs and the game is done,” Stokes said.
“That’s the kind of stuff that we’re not used to in the dressing room, and those things will do us the world of good. Those little things, the confidence and the energy that he brings, and his mindset towards the game. He’s just going to make everybody feel 10 feet tall in any situation that we’re in. We’ve got a long road ahead of us. It’s not an overnight thing. But this is what me and Brendon are trying to work towards.”
Kane Williamson, the New Zealand captain, said he thought the game “was on a knife-edge” overnight. “This morning we knew if we could pick up a wicket early then things can happen quickly, and it wasn’t to be,” he said, before turning to Root’s achievement in becoming the 14th person in the history of Test cricket to score 10,000 runs: “He keeps leading the way and doing it with real grace and a sense of ease as well. He’s always a pleasure to play against – and a real challenge as well.”
