Root’s captaincy under spotlight

In two years, England will play the opening test of the next Ashes series at the Gabba in Brisbane. It is a moot question who their captain will be.

Joe Root has expressed his wish to be test captain for the next tour of Australia in 2021-22, as he was for the last. But no England captain has led a full Ashes tour of Australia twice; and the present, as well as the past, is telling against Root’s ambition. England were defeated by New Zealand by an innings and 65 runs in a match which he himself had said would mark a new era, with a new template of England patiently constructing totals above 400.

Yet it turned into the same old story — the only huge total being the one conceded by England’s bowlers — and their captain led from the front only in being guilty of the softest dismissals.

“Clearly, some of the shots were not good, were they? Everyone’s very aware of that. I can’t fault the effort but I hold my hand up as well,” said Root.

Root and New Zealand counterpart Kane Williamson are so similar — so decent and considerate as men, so orthodox as batsmen — yet are contrasts in one vital respect. Williamson knows how to make the most of himself and his team, Root does not.

This first test was Root’s least productive as captain in terms of runs, 13 of them, but more importantly he got himself out on both occasions with two of the limpest steers ever played. The second time Root gave his wicket away, when guiding a short, wide ball from medium-pacer Colin de Grandhomme to gully on the fifth morning, he “treated it with too much respect,” he said.

Others would say Root should have treated the ball with disdain, and not played it at all, as England were never going to knock off the deficit of 262 at the scoring rate they were going; and, given that blocking was the team’s strategy, rightly or wrongly, neither he nor anyone else in the England side should have tried a cross-batted shot on a pitch of uneven bounce.

Root’s test average when England’s captain has gone below 40 for the first time, but there is a strong case for dating his decline in productivity — to the point where he can no longer be bracketed with Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and Williamson — to a time before he succeeded Alastair Cook in early 2018.

At Old Trafford, on a relatively quick pitch against Pakistan in 2016, batting at No 3, Root unfurled his masterpiece of 254, using three basic shots — very much like BJ Watling in his 205 which made him the player of the match at the Bay Oval.

Since then, Root’s shot selection has become more ambitious or, in this latest match, confused. His test average has declined from 56 to 47.

Since his apogee at Old Trafford, he has been averaging less than 40, whether captain or not.

His pursuit of Twenty20, and his desire to evolve as a hitter as the format evolves, seem to be — so to speak — the root cause.

Root liked the attritional way England batted on the opening day, when they scored 241-4, though nobody went on to a century, let alone a big one.

After resuming with seven wickets left, England lost their captain in the first session of day five, and four wickets in the afternoon, and the last two — after Sam Curran and Jofra Archer had a bit of a swish with the field up — soon after tea.

Joe Denly was the only batsman who did not contribute to his own downfall, gloved when he shouldered arms and Neil Wagner found extra lift.

Ben Stokes played with the freedom of an all-rounder, and dragged on. Ollie Pope sliced a full toss to cover where Santner flew through the air to take a catch with his right, or wrong, hand.

Jos Buttler must have been tired after keeping wicket for 201 overs and did not offer a stroke to the first ball with the second new ball, an inswinging yorker.

Wagner kicked up his heels, ran in, tried over and round the wicket, used his knuckleball — the one that suckered Pope — and struck sparks out of the sleepy turf.

In taking five of England’s seven remaining wickets, Wagner made up for New Zealand’s loss of Trent Boult, who bowled one over on the final day before departing with a rib injury.

“BJ Watling is such a tough competitor but just cares about the team so much,” Williamson said. “A lot of people wish they could bat 500 balls, including myself.

“For BJ and Mitch, to keep soaking up that pressure and keep going and keep making good decisions was outstanding and something that is clearly very hard to do for everybody.”

And impossible, at the moment, for England.