SOUTH AFRICA v ENGLAND ROOT’S REBOOT

Silverwood hails skipper Joe who, for the first time, feels in full control of his young team

JOE ROOT has been hailed for his handling of a Test side on the verge of just the second away series win of his captaincy career.

Root has been in the job for three years, but only now he has a team in which more players have been given their debuts by him than have not does he truly feel in control.

For the first time in Cape Town and then again in Port Elizabeth, Root had six players in the team that were originally picked by him, and that means something.

There is always a special bond between a player and their first England captain, and Root appears to be growing in stature and respect as a result of knowing that it is his team.

And when his players put in the sort of performances they have done for him over the past two matches, it is easy to see why he has hopes of taking them to No.1 in the world.

“I think he is getting a handle on things,” said head coach Chris Silverwood (below). “You see he’s full of energy, smiling, he’s enjoying himself and that’s always a great sign.

“Over a period of time it will become Joe’s team more than anything else. He’s out there leading the side and I thought he did a great job – the signs are good.”

Root has now won half his 38 matches in charge and of the six England captains who have done the job in more games than he has, only Michael Vaughan has a better win-rate than he has.

The problem for Root is that he loses a lot of games too, 15 is the current tally, which means that none of those six former skippers have as high a loss ratio as his 39.47 percent.

How much of the success or failure of a side can be put exclusively down to the captain is debatable. In three years in the job it is hard to argue that Root has made a good case as a captain of great wit or tactical brilliance.

But what he has shown is a willingness to learn and adapt and trial new ideas in the hope that a formula will fall into place – and maybe now it has.

Having bought into Trevor Bayliss’ idea of ‘positive’ or ‘total’ cricket, buoyed by the Ashes win in 2015 as a player and the 3-0 win in Sri Lanka as captain, he has gone back to basics.

With a new coach alongside him, new players under him, and the oldest strategy in the game working for him, namely big first innings runs and wickettaking options, he looks like a captain of real substance.