Root remains determined to make his captaincy a success
Joe Root wants to carry on as England captain and believes he is the right man to pick the team up after failing to regain the Ashes.
A dejected Root admitted England played patchily here, despite rallying on the final day to make Australia sweat on eventual victory. Root lost his last Test series in the West Indies and it is inevitable after failing to win back the Ashes that his position will be questioned.
When asked if he wanted to carry on, Root replied: “Definitely, yeah.” He later added: “I have been given a fantastic opportunity to captain the Test side and will continue to work very hard at doing my best at that. That is in my control and I have to make sure I keep getting this team in the best shape to win as many games as possible.”
The result ensures Australia will retain the Ashes, even if they lose the fifth Test at the Oval this week. England will announce their squad for the final Test today, with Surrey middle-order batsman Ollie Pope in with a strong chance of being added to the 13, although wholesale changes are highly unlikely. Engis land will wait on the fitness of Ben Stokes, who was unable to bowl in the second innings due to a shoulder injury. It would not prevent him playing as a specialist batsman at the Oval, but it would mean bringing in an all-rounder such as Sam Curran to bolster the bowling.
England travel to London today, where they will try to pick up the pieces of losing at Old Trafford and attempt to win the final Test, with 24 World Test Championship points riding on the outcome.
Pope will put pressure on Jason Roy for his place, but he has had one only match in the middle order, while Joe Denly’s second-innings fifty will keep him in the side.
For Root, it is crucial his players show fight for the entire match this
week. They battled hard on the final two days in Manchester against some excellent bowling, but were flat and poor on the first day in difficult, windy conditions and that ultimately cost them the Test.
“Whenever you lose a series, it hurts,” he said. “I have to take that on the chin. But you have to look at areas you want to get better at both in yourself and as a team. We have to make sure we finish this summer strongly. I know the Ashes are not coming back, but in terms of the Test championship at the end of the two-year cycle, those points this week could be crucial. Every game against Australia matters.”
Several players will be fighting for their futures at the Oval. Denly, Roy, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow are under scrutiny as Test cricketers and, with Trevor Bayliss leaving as coach after the Oval, there will inevitably be changes.
Root twice had to administer strong team talks after day one of this Test. With the Ashes on the line it was not good enough.
“When you find yourself in a situation like today you learn a lot about your team,” said Root. “I thought everyone showed a lot of courage, resilience, and everyone should be really proud about how they approached the day. We will look on other aspects of the game and think maybe we could have been better and most importantly we have got to look forward to the next Test match and get something out of this series.”