Cook could get into this team!
England legend Gooch insists Root needs help from supporting cast
GRAHAM GOOCH believes Joe Root can continue carrying England’s fragile batting line-up throughout the Test series against India but says he will be feeling the pressure just as he did during his time as captain. Gooch, whose longest spell leading England came between 1989 and 1993, will forever be remembered for his iconic innings of 333 against India at Lord’s in 1990.
It was at the same venue last week that Root passed Gooch’s mark of 8,900 Test runs during an unbeaten innings of 180 that ultimately proved in vain, as India surged to a final-day win that leaves England 1-0 down in the series heading into the third Test at Headingley, which starts on Wednesday.
Root’s form during the opening two Tests has been in stark contrast to his team-mates, the captain scoring 386 runs at an average of 128.66, while the rest have contributed 513 at 13.86.
If there is one man who can appreciate the burden the 30-year-old is carrying right now it is Gooch, the greatest English batsman of his generation, whose tally of Test runs is only bettered on his country’s all-time list by Root and Sir Alastair Cook.
‘We’re too reliant on the one person,’ says Gooch. ‘I have had that experience and that’s not a complaint but at certain stages of my career there was a greater responsibility on having to deliver.
‘As a player, you can be in the best form of your life but you can’t deliver all the time and that expectation is not helpful. You need everyone to contribute.
‘When I became captain, it spurred me on for the best period of my career. But I felt the pressure later on towards the end before I resigned in ’93. I had a good series against Australia, scored two hundreds, but I felt the pressure in that I needed to do well because we had quite a few younger players. You just feel the pressure.’
And he adds: ‘Whatever he says, Joe will be feeling the pressure because at the moment he’s 50, 60, 70 per cent of our batting, isn’t he?
‘Can he keep this form going for the rest of the series? Of course he can. He’s a world-class player and he’s performing unbelievably. He can keep it going. But of course, with any performer in any sport there is going to be a fallow period.
‘It’s not possible to keep it going game after game after game.’
England have attempted to address their top-order issues by dropping Dominic Sibley, a move that is likely to see Haseeb Hameed moved up one place to open alongside Rory Burns at Headingley and the recalled Dawid Malan handed the pivotal No3 role after three years out of the team. Gooch, who opened for the majority of his 118Test career and was also England batting coach between 2009 and 2014, has sympathy for the current top-order players.
‘Every one of those cricketers works hard, trains hard, prepares themselves,’ he says. ‘It’s not lack of effort but things like attitude, technical ability, knowledge and concentration all come into play, especially for an opening batsman because one mistake and it’s the end of your day. All I can say is that you go to some dark places in cricket because it’s an individual sport within a team game. You can overthink it a lot. ‘Generally simple is best. You have to have a simple plan and a clear, strong mind to deliver. If you’ve got a confused mind, and I’m not saying they have because I don’t know, but if you’ve got a confused mind, you are in trouble.’
Perhaps the biggest indictment on England’s current crop of openers is the fact Gooch believes Cook, 36 (below) and three years retired from the international game, would still get in the current team. ‘He’d still play if he was available, of course he would,’ says Gooch.
‘I watch a lot of county cricket, I’m an ambassador at Essex and watch every home game. I don’t see a lot of mildly experienced players (who could play for England).’
Gooch is supportive of Hameed, who made a duck in his first Test innings for five years at Lord’s and scored nine during England’s final-day collapse. ‘They’ve got to play him for the rest of the series because you don’t bring someone in and leave them out after one game,’ he says.
Malan, too, is a selection he likes. ‘He’s got a technique where he plays the ball late, plays straight,’ says Gooch. ‘He’s a composed player, he knows his own game, he knows how to score runs, he’s had a bit of success at Test level before. Just because someone has had a go doesn’t mean they’re completely shot and can’t come back.’
It is, however, Zak Crawley, who was dropped after the first Test against India at Trent Bridge, who Gooch rates as potentially England’s best top-order batsman.
‘In my opinion, Crawley is the best of those three,’ says Gooch. ‘That’s not including Hameed. Out of Sibley, Burns and Crawley, he’s the one with the most potential. He’s not in form at the moment but he’s the one with the most potential.’
So how do England get Crawley back in their team before this winter’s Ashes series in Australia?
‘I don’t know,’ admits Gooch. ‘But if I had to back any one of the three I’d be backing him instead of Burns and Sibley. Crawley has got the best technique out of the three of them.’