England legend asked to steady the ship
Leading England run-scorer Joe Root has been reappointed England Test captain in the wake of his good friend Ben Stokes' sudden retirement. Root, 35, is chasing the record to be the leading run-scorer outright in Tests.Some argue the added responsibility will help the Yorkshire batsman concentrate and get the run-scoring record outright. I humbly think the added pressure of captaincy is not needed, and it's the reason why he has been in stellar form these past two years.
Captaincy can do strange things to good players. Even the great Sachin was better without the captaincy. Sourav Ganguly or MS Dhoni would have that responsibility. In this current England team, however, he is the most experienced and the best player on the team.
Going on the basis of Joe Root being the most experienced player in the England team, one can say there are no outstanding candidates for the job. Ben Duckett, respectfully, is not captaincy material.
Harry Brook, who is the skipper in the limited-overs formats, was arguably overlooked after his misdemeanours with a New Zealand bouncer. Even if he wasn't, I would prefer the Yorkshireman to work on his game.
Jacob Bethell might be, but at this current time, he's in the infancy of his international career. Let the man grow (which they have to be fair), into the role of an international cricketer.
One of Joe Root's first assignments is against Babar Azam's Pakistan, who themselves have only just reappointed. With the experience the Yorkshireman has, he can approach the captaincy differently this time round.
No pressure, and nor should there be. Joe Root will first work with interim head coach Marcus Trescothick, then, in the winter, for the tour of New Zealand will be working with New Zealand legend Steven Fleming, who was recently appointed as England red-ball coach.
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