Pride and passion got us through, says Root
JOE ROOT last night praised his side’s ‘pride and passion’ after their much-needed innings win over Pakistan at Headingley. And the England captain admitted that the desire to prove critics wrong played a part in his side’s victory — a reference to former captain Michael Vaughan’s pre-match suggestion that England should consider dropping Stuart Broad or Jimmy Anderson. ‘It was a very tough last week for the group,’ said Root. ‘We had to show a lot of character. I asked the group to play with pride and passion — and everything I asked was delivered out on the field. ‘There’s an element of that which comes out through criticism. You want to prove people wrong, and you have to have that within you to play at this level. ‘We’ve seen that with Cooky (Alastair Cook) in Melbourne, and with the two bowlers this week. That’s why they are record-breakers.’ England’s victory halted a run of eight games without a win, six of which ended in defeat. And it eased pressure on Trevor Bayliss, whose future as Test coach would have come under further scrutiny had his team lost at home to an inexperienced Pakistan side ranked seventh in the world. As he had before the game, Root came to his coach’s defence. ‘Trevor’s the easy target when the side’s losing,’ he said. ‘After Lord’s, it would have been very easy to get tense and have a negative feel around the guys. ‘But Trevor’s experience pulled through.’ Bayliss himself spoke with his usual calm, but was in little doubt of the importance of a result that prevented England from sliding to a humiliating seventh in the rankings themselves. ‘It’s about how we can put in that type of performance more often,’ he said. ‘It might be a case of having to remind the guys what it’s like to be embarrassed in one game if we don’t keep focused. ‘We have to recreate that really good cricket every time we go out.’