St George’s (Grenada): Former England captain Nasser Hussain on Monday called for Test captain Joe Root to be ousted from the position, saying the right-handed batter never gave the ‘instinctive feel’ of being a skipper in the game.
Calls for Root’s sacking as Test captain have increased since England lost the third Test against West Indies by 10 wickets at Grenada and lost the series 1-0. Under Root, England have now won just one Test in the last 17 appearances in the longest format of the game. Overall, under Root’s captaincy, England have played 64 Tests, winning 27 while losing 26 matches.
“Root is a world-class batsman and a very likeable lad but I feel he has never had that instinctive feel for the game as captain. Clearly under Joe and Paul Collingwood in the West Indies, England tried to create this atmosphere where they were all mates and all in it together. They want to be a likeable team but you need more than that to win Tests,” wrote Hussain in his column for Daily Mail on Monday.
Though Root has insisted that he is still the right man to captain England in Tests, Hussain advises that all-rounder Ben Stokes be given the top job. “If Joe does not decide to step down himself the decision should be taken out of his hands. Then the new coach should sit down with Ben Stokes and ask him where he is off the field mentally and where he is with his game. Ben seems to be playing with passion and fire again and if the coach likes what he hears from him then Stokes should get the job.”
Hussain further slammed the decision made by the interim selection panel of coach Paul Collingwood, managing director Andrew Strauss and James Taylor to not pick veteran quicks Stuart Broad and James Anderson for the trip to the Caribbean.
“Sometimes you need those tough characters even if they are difficult to captain and coach. It’s such a cop out to leave out people who are perhaps difficult to manage and pick a team of 10 yes men and yourself. It does not need hindsight to say England have made serious mistakes on this tour and before it.
“I never understood the decision to leave out Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. Why would you drop your two greatest bowlers when you are at your lowest ebb? The decision was clearly disrespectful to West Indies and I never believe you should use Test matches just to experiment and try new people for the sake of it, especially when you’re leaving people of the quality of Broad and Anderson at home.”
England will now begin their home summer in Tests against New Zealand in June followed by the postponed fifth Test from last year’s series against India at Edgbaston in July.
–IANS
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