Bad reviews are costing Root dear

ENGLAND stuck at their game quite well on the third day of the Trent Bridge Test, after a first hour in which they looked a bit grumpy and all over the place. It was hard to fault them for their effort or energy.

Ben Stokes bowled especially well, and will feel better for the overs he sent down.

But their performance over the last two days shows why I didn’t want to get too excited after their win at Lord’s. And with South Africa set to welcome back fast bowler Kagiso Rabada for the third Test at The Oval, we could be in for quite a series.

One of the things Joe Root has to sort out quickly is England’s use of the Decision Review System. It’s all a bit of a mess — and, like it or not, it’s now a crucial part of captaining a Test team.

To an extent, I can understand why things look a bit disorganised right now. It’s a combination of having a new captain and some pretty emotional bowlers, as we saw when Stokes persuaded Root to use up a review against Hashim Amla on the first morning.

But Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook will tell you, there has to be a system in place. Both men used to take the emotion out of it by conferring calmly with wicketkeeper Matt Prior, and using the 15 seconds a team have at their disposal to make a decision.

At the moment, people are charging around and Root is getting sucked into it all. Part of the reason they failed to review Amla’s nick off Broad when he was on 25 was because they’d wasted one the previous evening when Jimmy Anderson was bowling.

Ironically, the guy who seemed most convinced Amla had edged it was Cook at slip. But when even Broad — who thinks everything is out — doesn’t look sure, it’s hard to blame Root.

England need to sit down and agree to a protocol. They can’t afford to keep getting these things wrong.

Neither can they afford to keep having batting collapses, as they did on Saturday. They stem from England being fragile in key positions at the top of the order.

I didn’t think the collapse stemmed from too many shots. You can’t, for instance, criticise Root for counter-attacking and then getting out driving on the up.

What scuppered England is that they lost early wickets. They can’t keep doing that and expect to beat South Africa.