Joe Root is under threat of losing his status as the captain of England’s cricket team after losing another test series on foreign soil.
West Indies beat England to condemn the Joe Root-led side to their 26th test loss under the Yorkshiremen’s leadership.
The calls to replace him as the captain started getting louder after England was hammered 4-0 by Australia in the Ashes. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) sacked their managing director Ashley Giles and coach Chris Silverwood as a result of the debacle, with fellow former Test players Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood taking over on an interim basis.
But in January, the 31-year-old batsman insisted he wanted to begin the process of helping rebuild England’s red-ball fortunes by continuing to lead the team in the Caribbean. That plan did not pan out as England lost the recently concluded three-match series 1-0 with limp performances in each test.
Root has now overseen just one win in 17 previous Tests and has failed to lead England to a series victory in his last five attempts.
After five years and a record 64 games in charge, a decision on Root’s future as skipper might well have been made for him. Former England captains Mike Atherton and Naser Hussain have joined a growing list of voices calling for Root to step down.
Root has always enjoyed the luxury of being guaranteed a place in the XI due to his batting prowess which made him the obvious choice to take over when Alastair Cook resigned as captain in 2017.
He has maintained his form with the bat despite the added responsibility, topping the tourists’ batting averages in the series against the West Indies after a remarkable 2021 where he scored 1,708 Test runs, the third-highest tally in any calendar year.
But longstanding doubts over whether he has the forceful personality and tactical skills needed for captaincy have reached a crescendo in recent months.
Former skipper Nasser Hussain accused Root of lacking an “instinctive feel for the game as captain” and being party to a “cop-out” following England’s much-criticized decision to leave James Anderson and Stuart Broad out of the squad for the Caribbean.
Working against Root, also, is the emergence of Ben Stokes who impressed when given the opportunity to lead the white-ball team at home against Pakistan last year following a Covid-19 outbreak.
Stuart Broad’s name has made rounds as well for potential captaincy in short term with Pat Cummins’ recent success in the Ashes followed by Australia’s series win against Pakistan altering the English perceptions.
With each passing loss, the likelihood of Joe Root being replaced as the captain grows bigger either willingly or through the English board’s behest.
