It can be hard to CAPTAIN your heroes...
But I know now I can order legends Jimmy and Stuart around, says Joe
JOE ROOT heads to Sri Lanka next week acknowledging that 18 months into the job he is feeling more at ease as England Test captain. A 4-1 victory over the world’s No 1 team India has naturally boosted his confidence as a leader but, as he chats alongside Stuart Broad at the Belfry, it becomes clear that he traces the turning point back to the s pri ng and the after math of England going 1 - 0 d o wn in New Zealand.
England’s inner sanctum believe they have been tactically sharper and more adaptable to conditions since. Which will be welcome news to supporters hoping for a change of overseas fortunes in the next few weeks. The away record reads one series win since December 2012 while only Nasser Hussain’s vintage of 2000-01 have triumphed in a series on Sri Lankan soil.
‘We started in Christchurch,’ says Root. ‘Of course, we drew the game in the end but we were so close to getting across the line there. Then when we met together at Lord’s in May, I made it very clear about how I saw things going this summer and what would be important to us.
‘Between what I thought was the way to go and collective input from the guys we had something really strong to work with. We didn’t get off to a perfect start against Pakistan but the summer felt like an upward curve and this winter is going to be a real challenge for us.’
So has Broad, retained for the tour despite England’s national selector Ed Smith toying with the idea of resting the 433- wicket bowler, seen an improvement in Root’s leadership?
‘Definitely, yeah,’ he agrees. ‘It takes time as a captain to feel comfortable in this kind of environment, especially in this day and age when you don’t get that experience of doing five years for your county — when you are picked up as an England player at 20.
‘ So you’re captaining on your school and younger age- group experience but also what you’ve learned from international cricket.
‘Particularly this summer, tactically we were brilliant. We have communicated a huge amount, we’ve had a lot of clarity over how we want to go about our business with goals, and I think, in red-ball cricket, teams do thrive off some structure that you can review to.
‘That’s what makes the best teams the best teams. So you can actually say, “We’re not sticking to the plan”. So that when you go off track, you get back to the drawing board for the next hour.
‘We don’t have big boards up full of lots of information, we just have very clear, simple points: “That’s your job, boys”. Then you adapt all of that to ground and conditions. It sounds a bit management-speak but in the longer format of the game when you are under pressure for four days you do need things that hold you on a straight line.’
Junctures at which they have veered off course are recalled readily. Such as last December when Root won the toss in Adelaide only for Anderson and Broad to fail to hit the right lengths. Or even during the India series when the captain and Broad appeared at odds with the positioning of third man.
Ordering England’s two most prolific bowlers around must have been difficult at first.
‘Yeah, a little bit,’ says Root. ‘And the fact that they were both playing for England before I made my first-class debut.
‘They had probably won an Ashes series before I scored a first-class hundred. Of course there is an element of that.
‘You play with your heroes when you first walk into an England dressing room. Now, a few years later as captain you have to tell them what you think is the right way to go.’
England head to Colombo without Alastair Cook, having provided a lads-night-in farewell in The Oval dressing room last week when the entire team donned ‘ Ally Cook’ T-shirts, supped beer and performed numbers from t he Barmy Army songbook.
As Root says, Cook being around is all he’s ever known, but with his new- ball pair of Anderson and Broad now aged 36 and 32 respectively, it is likely two more of the nation’s very best will be departing in the not too distant future.
So has there been any thoughts of managing their exits? ‘No, it’s a natural progression. Everyone comes to their turn at different times. Of course, it will be nice for it to stagger. But who knows with injuries and form? We are very aware of the need to maximise the guys like Stuart and Jimmy as much as we can.
‘We are very fortunate to be in a position where we have got two world- class bowlers who are so valuable to the rest of the group.’
Both are viewed as essential inclusions for next summer’s bid to wrest back the Ashes and, although there is arguably no better way of going out than after beating Australia, Broad suggests Anderson’s productivity with the ball may dictate otherwise.
‘His career shows us how sportsmen go through ups and downs because his career has not been plain-sailing,’ says Broad. ‘Look to South Africa in 2016 when AB de Villiers came out and said that Jimmy had lost his pace. He didn’t play much on that tour, he wasn’t bowling beautifully — and there were people writing: “Is Jimmy at an end at 33?”
‘But I would be scared to look at his record from that point on. It’s been absolutely unbelievable [131 wickets at 19.09]. Certainly, I think he has gone to a different level since being questioned.
‘In the last three years he has been absolutely relentless with his performances and that should give encouragement to every cricketer out there.
‘The reason Jimmy is an inspiration to us all is because arguably his peak has been 33-36 and hopefully that expands to 37, 38, 39.’
In the shorter term, Broad’s focus is now fully on getting fit for a series t hat starts i n Galle on November 6.
‘My rib is just over three weeks away from being able to bowl,’ he adds. ‘But there is a tent going up at Loughborough Uni in which they can up the humidity, all that sort of thing, so I can get a workload in.’