Root will take Cook’s crown
ANDREW STRAUSS EXPECTS CURRENT SKIPPER TO BECOME ENGLAND’S HIGHEST RUN-SCORER
IT was one of the easier decisions he had to make as the ECB’s director of cricket. Despite a largely successful three-and-a-half years in the role, sir andrew strauss endured some turbulent times — including sacking coach Peter Moores, ending Kevin Pietersen’s England career and leaving Ben stokes out of an ashes tour following his fight in Bristol.
But altogether less contentious — and perhaps more significant — was his appointment of Joe Root as sir alastair Cook’s replacement as Test captain in 2017.
‘we tried to do the process as thoroughly as possible and we interviewed a few players,’ reflects strauss, who also met stokes and stuart Broad about the job.
‘The mistake people make is when there is an obvious next in line and it is often your best player. If you just make those decisions without really thinking it through, sometimes you live to regret them.
‘But it was clear in my mind that Joe was not just in a great place in terms of his own game, but he had put a lot of thought into the direction that he wanted to take the England team. You are never quite sure how someone is going to react to the captaincy, but I felt he was ready for that challenge.’
strauss has been proved right, with Root set to break Michael Vaughan’s record for most Test wins as England captain if his side beats India in the second Test which started today in Chennai.
His 26 victories in 47 Tests in charge is two more than strauss managed in his 50 matches leading an England side which climbed to No 1 in the Test rankings.
Root’s win percentage of 55.31 is the best of any skipper since Mike Brearley.
‘when he was a young guy in that England team, he was a bit of a Jack the Lad, laughing and joking and not taking life too seriously,’ strauss, 43, explains to
Sportsmail. ‘He has matured since then but he still retains that enthusiasm for the game and a pretty calm, composed, laid-back attitude to international cricket.
‘For the captain to give an outward impression that it is all under control is a very powerful tool to have and he does that. He is learning all the time tactically. alongside coach Chris silverwood, there has been real clarity in terms of how the Test team are looking to play.
‘He is incredibly passionate about playing cricket for England and making the most of his time as captain. He’s done a magnificent job and he still has a lot of gas in the tank, so there is plenty more opportunity for further records to be broken.’
and yet Root’s qualities as a leader have largely been ignored until now. strauss thinks he knows why.
‘It’s partly due to the fact that we put so much stock on the ashes,’ says strauss, who led England to two ashes wins, including their last victory Down
Under in 2010-11, whereas Root lost 4-0 in australia and drew last summer’s series 2-2.
‘The ashes series are always the things that we are measured by. You judge a captain’s ability by whether they win the ashes.
England have won a hell of a lot of matches under Joe and his win percentage is higher than anyone. Over the last 18 months, form wise, England are probably the best team in the world.
‘But if he doesn’t manage to win in australia, that will always be an asterisk against his name. He will have a point to prove in australia.’ with the bat, Root’s formidable form this year has seen him climb up to third on the list of England’s all-time top Test run-scorers. He is 3,965 runs behind Cook’s record of 12,472 — a mark strauss expects him to pass.
‘I think he’ll do it,’ says strauss. ‘Even alastair would admit Joe is a better all-round player than he was. Joe, I would argue, is the best all-round player I’ve ever seen for England. It’s just a case of him staying healthy and he will surpass anyone else.’
But strauss, who is replacing Cook in the Channel 4 pundit’s chair for the second Test, does not think the current England team have yet reached the level of his world-leading side of a decade ago.
‘They’re probably a year or two away from that still,’ he adds. ‘They are still a bit reliant on two or three senior cricketers putting in the bulk of the performances.
‘If you look at the team we had, we had batsman one to seven, all of whom could be expected to score a hundred on any given occasion. I don’t get that feeling yet with this England team.
‘what would be a great achievement is to win in India and australia in the same year. That would bode well in terms of not just being the No1 team in the world but staying there as well.’
lLive coverage of India v England is on Channel 4 and All 4 from 3.40am. Highlights of today’s play are on More4 at 1.15pm and on All 4.