The Daily Telegraph - Sport

As much as we all love Joe, he lacks feel for the game’s nuances

Captain has been unable to grasp the biggest moments and his team spend too long drifting

- GEOFFREY BOYCOTT

Joe Root is such a likeable lad, a quality batsman and nobody wants to hurt or humiliate him but I am afraid he lacks any feel for captaincy. His captaincy has been very disappoint­ing and he has to think seriously about whether he is suited for the job and whether it is affecting his batting.

Captaincy is a gift. It comes naturally to some and you cannot learn it from a book. You learn it as a young man watching your peers and elder players in the team. You need a feel for it. Some of the best captains had little or no experience of the job before they led England, such as Michael Vaughan and Ray Illingwort­h, but turned out to be brilliant at it.

Captaincy is like playing chess. You have to think two steps ahead. A match can be nip and tuck for long periods then, when you see an opportunit­y, you have to attack. I am afraid Joe does not see his chance early or quick enough, and sometimes he does not see it at all.

For example, in the second innings, Jofra Archer bowled fast and Stuart Broad with great skill and intensity to have Australia wobbling on 63 for four. The atmosphere was electric, with the crowd urging England on to bowl them out cheaply.

But, after tea, Joe opened the bowling with Craig Overton and Jack Leach and his field settings beggared belief. People were spread out and you could tell England were hoping they would take wickets while trying to save runs. Suddenly, England were hedging their bets, making sure they would not lose the Test. All the intensity and aggression dissipated.

For the best part of the first two days in this Test, England looked ordinary and jaded. Broad took two early wickets but then very quickly England looked as though they were going through the motions.

Yes, the conditions were unpleasant for bowling and fielding but England had to win at either Old Trafford or the Oval to regain the Ashes. Everybody should have been up for the challenge and the captain needed to pick everyone up and remind them of that.

Yet I never had the impression England sensed they could bowl

Australia out or had that drive and determinat­ion.

Archer bowled powder-puff pace and his direction was all over the place. I accept the weather was miserable, cold, windy and rainy but Root should have exerted influence on him by telling him this was the key moment in the Test. Getting Steve Smith out cheaply, roughing him up, and making his batting difficult was so vital to the psychology within both teams.

Yet what we got was a nonevent. Joe just stood at slip watching Smith take the match away from us. As much as we all love Joe, it seems he does not have a feel for the nuances of the game. There have been crucial moments in all the matches and England have very rarely grasped them. Australia have always been mentally stronger and won the key moments.

The selectors will not want to take the captaincy off him. They are not sure who to give it to instead and they will not want to humiliate our best batsman by sacking him publicly. But he has not batted very well for a while and the team spend too long drifting to challenge good sides such as

When Leach got Smith out caught at slip, he had oversteppe­d the line. Muppet

Australia. He has to spot an opportunit­y and be positive but Joe goes on the negative too often too soon.

If England are to have any chance of beating Australia next week and levelling the series then it is not just captaincy they need to improve but also batting, bowling and catching.

It is no good making excuses about Australia having Smith in their side scoring huge runs. It is true, England have not found a way to get him out. It is true his huge number of runs is hurting us. Root’s batting average since he took over as captain Root scores a century every 6.4 Tests as captain

But the players have to have a good look at themselves. Can every member of our team honestly say they played well?

The only moment when Smith seemed ill at ease was when Jack Leach was turning the ball away from him with a fielder at silly point. When Leach got Smith out caught at slip he had oversteppe­d the line. Muppet.

The problems with the batting are mounting up. Jason Roy has not got a defence. Being able to play crisp strokes is not much good if you cannot stay in. He is a brilliant, exciting one-day batsman but as a Test batsman, I am sorry, he is not for me. There is too big a gap between bat and pad when he defends and he goes hard at the ball all the time. That is not a recipe to be a success in Test cricket.

In the second innings you could tell he was holding himself in. It was a huge effort to defend. You could feel he was straining at the leash to play shots. He probably thinks he played a boring innings compared to his one-day knocks but that is the difference between one-day and five-day matches.

Jonny Bairstow should have a good look at his recent batting statistics and dismissals. Too many starts, and not going on to develop his innings. Getting out bowled one innings in four is far too often.

He is not tight enough in defence and far too adventurou­s early in his innings. If he is to return to his best form, he needs to be honest with himself and more selective in his shot playing. At the moment, he is not the force he was. This hurts England and he is not getting the best out of his immense talent.

Ben Stokes was outrageous­ly brilliant at Headingley but, to be honest, it papered over the cracks. In this series, individual­s have had their moments, such as Stokes and Broad, but Australia have played as a team.

They have been consistent­ly better at bowling. Better discipline­d for longer periods in the tight moments. We have to be absolutely frank and admit we were not good enough.

 ??  ?? Back foot: Joe Root has not spotted when the time is right for England to attack
Back foot: Joe Root has not spotted when the time is right for England to attack
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