Root deserves a chance to lead red-ball renaissance

FOR a brief while yesterday there were rumours that Joe Root was to be removed as England captain. Thankfully, they proved false. The Ashes may be retained by Australia, but the series is not over. What an unpleasant, kneejerk reaction it would be to ditch the captain now. Some may argue he should go after the Oval Test, no matter the outcome, and there is a case for that. Tim Paine has had a far from perfect series but he has outskippered Root. Very few days this Ashes summer have been won by England, or their captain, and having lost home and away series to Australia it is hard to buy the concept of third time lucky. Yet if Root demands further indulgence it is for one reason. He has captained a country that has not prioritised red-ball cricket throughout his tenure. The day Trevor Bayliss was appointed, the ECB made their primacies known. Bayliss was to coach all forms of the game — and indeed bristles somewhat at his reputation as a white-ball specialist — but it is in one-day cricket where he has enjoyed greatest impact. And as Bayliss came in on May 26, 2015, and Root was made skipper on February 13, 2017, he has never known a time when the Test game was to the fore. The emphasis always was on winning the Cricket World Cup at home this summer, meaning Bayliss has been a resounding success. English Test cricket, however, has suffered on his watch, culminating in Australia’s first successful tour here since 2001. While Australia focused all their attention on winning, then retaining, the Ashes, this series came almost as an afterthought for England. Now, with Bayliss leaving, priorities must be realigned and that begins with getting Root a coach whose strength is the Test game, who can steer him, advise and develop. For Root to be floundering in Australia’s Big Bash last winter in an attempt to prove worthy of an IPL contract was a crass misuse of England’s resources. As he has sought to move with the times — and the money — and become a more aggressive player, so his technique in Tests has been lost. Australia’s gun batsman in this series, Steve Smith, is

Bayliss: white-ball triumph averaging 134.2; Root 30.8. It makes him slightly more effective than Travis Head but not much, and a century short of Australia in every innings, which is no place to be. He needs help, and it is up to Ashley Giles and the ECB to provide it. Only then can a proper judgment be made on his captaincy. It hasn’t looked good this last month or so, but what about England’s approach has?