JOE BRUTE!
New skipper says England’s Test side have folded too easily and it’s time to toughen up and add a ‘little more grit’
JOE ROOT wants England to toughen up and aims to put some backbone and grit into his Test side.
The skipper has had time to assess the areas where England must improve if they are to succeed against South Africa and the West Indies this summer before an Ashes mission at the end of the year.
And 26-year-old Root admits when the going gets tough, England have folded.
So instead of playing to the galleries and trying to entertain at every turn with happy hookers and carefree drivers, he is going to add some steel to his team.
Root said: “There have been occasions in the past when we probably have folded a little too easily.
“I think there are obvious things we need to address.
“The most important thing is recognising when you do have to get a bit more serious, a bit tougher, find ways of playing for a draw.
“Finding ways of wresting the game back into your hands, so you can go on and win – be a little bit harder to beat.
“When we got on top, we destroyed sides and won comfortably.
“It’s just when things get a little bit tough and things go against us, we have to make sure we find a way back into the game.
“Maybe show a little more backbone, more grit on occasions.”
There is little doubt that a Joe Root team will entertain more often than not.
He plays the game that way and it is in his DNA to have fun with a bat in his hand.
But he’s a father now, as well as the captain... so perhaps he won’t be cutting the toes off his team-mates’ socks anymore.
“I don’t know where that’s come from,” he says, smiling. “Maybe I’ll have to find someone else to take over that cheeky chappie mantle.
“I think we’ll have to find someone else to make sure they’re the cheekiest. “Naturally, I might go about things slightly differently, but when it comes to enjoying my cricket and making sure the lads are having fun in the dressing room, I think that’s very important.” There is a lot on Root’s plate, not least his responsibilities as a runscorer for Eoin Morgan’s ODI team in the early part of the summer.
Root chose not to have a bash in the IPL this year with his young family at the forefront of his mind.
But with his vicecaptain Ben Stokes (above) playing in the same side as Aussie skipper Steve Smith in Pune, he has a bit of Ashes planning underway.
Root said: “Ben should just go and enjoy the experience. But one thing Stokesy can do for us is make sure he finds a little weakness in Smith’s armoury for when we go down to Australia... if he can.”