CAPTAINCY CONUNDRUM

England need Root more as a key batsman than as skipper

Definitive judgments on players are best left until the end of a career but, as of now, Joe Root is among the four best England batsmen I have seen. My own timeframe for such a claim is 1980s onwards and I would bracket Root with Graham Gooch, David Gower and Kevin Pietersen as the best during that period.

This is necessarily subjective and observers may wonder about Alastair Cook, for example, the greatest run-getter England have produced. I have a slightly romantic rather than utilitarian view of these things and the best players are those who take calculated risks and are able to put the hammer on bowlers, rather than simply wear them down. At his best, Root is a superb batsman in the round. Good against pace and spin, against new ball and old, long format and short, he is capable of cruising through the gears as the situation demands. Ever since his debut in Nagpur seven years ago, the consistency and quality of his play have been remarkable.

There have been few England players who have made batting seem so easy, who have flowed as effortlessly from the off: watch from sideways on when he is playing well and the rhythm is unmistakable: back and forward the feet go, lightly, almost brushing the surface, moving magically into position as if he can predict the length of the ball.

Until this year, he had barely experienced a slump. He had a difficult first tour to Australia, during the whitewash of 2013-14, and was dropped for the only time in his career in Sydney, but other than that he