Nothing will truly change until England fans just stop going to home test series, there’s no incentive to do well as ECB are guaranteed a river of cash every summer, time to turn those taps off and give them something to think about.
If there was a credible and available alternative to Root as captain he’d have gone by now. I mean there is an obvious shout - but I don’t think Stokes wants it. Broad would be an interesting captain, I imagine all the drs referrals would be saved for him… and it doesn’t look that likely he’s even going to be back in the team. Though the lacklustre performance of the majority of the bowling - and another series defeat - doesn’t harm his and Anderson’s prospects of a return. We will never know but I think those two would have skittled the windies out and given us a first innings lead on that deck in Grenada. The attack that was picked nearly did that - after a truly woeful opening spell. Ran out of ideas when the ball got soft, I’d wager it wouldn’t have got that far with the skill and nous of nearly 1200 test wickets opening the bowling on a pitch offering seam both ways, going up and down with variable bounce and even offering swing. Like I say, we will never know. But I know what my view is. That said that’s assuming they’d not have flogged themselves to death in the first two games - those pitches weren’t great and were never likely to get a result.
To those bemoaning why we can’t seem to produce batters just now… I’m currently sat watching the first day of cricket at Hampshire. 28th March.
Bumble reckons Root should step down as capt. and that’s good enough for me. Wasn’t Stokes the vice captain for the Windies tour ? If he was, then he’d have taken over leadership if Root couldn’t play so I’d be surprised if he didn’t want the captaincy on a full time basis. Only my opinion though ! He’s definitely the best potentially successful captain of the current lot
Root can't be enjoying the captaincy, surely? We look dreadful as a unit and the wickets we give away are often amateurish, irrespective of the opposition. What we managed to do for this tour though is put out a bowling unit as poor as our batting unit. Though we're talking sows ears for many of our team, the captain has to take responsibility for overall on field performance. He's a cracking batsman, but that's what he needs to devote his attention to. Find whoever is the best available captain at county level, and he's got the gig for the summer. The players need to start hearing a different voice, because the current one either isn't being listened to, or he's not being respected.
Most of our current batsman dream of averaging 25.....certainly over the last couple of years anyway.
Vince might only average 25, but his last test was 4 years ago, and he just happened to score 76 in his last innings. If we're to parachute a captain in, the options are Vince and Billings, and I think bringing in a keeper to captain might be a bit much. The other options are Stokes, Broad, or hope that Root can be better with a different coaching setup. In that context, Vince might not be a bad shout.
Personally he’d do for me but he’s had a few chances with white and red … mmmmm maybe you’re right but … No, I’ll go for Stokes
Vince should have a recall first and foremost. No worse than Dan Lawrence or Ollie Pope. You cant just shoe horn in a Captain. The only outside contender I'd consider is Eoin Morgan. One of the best tactical minds in the game although isn't guaranteed to score runs. That said...who is?
Morgan is the only possibility for me too BUT is captaining limited overs cricket a different skill set? Could he get the players to not throw their wickets away, to bowl consistently? Or do we just accept we haven't got the personnel capable of seeing through a test match?
Test players should be selected from the County game and given time to grow. It's the closest format so that has to be the way forward for me.
We've no openers, no spinners and no pace under the age of 35 or permanently on treatment table. Add a media and fanbase demanding success, who on earth would want to do the job?