Resolute Joe Root demands county cricket overhaul after fronting up to Ashes debacle

GEORGE DOBELL IN HOBART: Whether it be an away Ashes series or a tour to the sub-continent, the England Test captain does not believe the domestic game prepares players for the challenges the longest form presents. If anything, the opposite

Joe Root has confirmed he would like to remain as England’s Test captain but insisted “things need to change” if the team are to enjoy success.

Root, who has now captained England in more Tests than anyone, looked exhausted at times during the Ashes and saw his own batting form fall away to the extent that he averaged just 32.20 in the series.

But while he acknowledged England played some “soft” cricket towards the end of the match in Hobart, he insists he remains “the right person” to lead and hopes that, with reform to the domestic game, England can make the improvements required to improve their Test results.

Root also confirmed he had decided not to enter the IPL auction in order to give himself the best possible chance of preparing for England’s Test series against New Zealand which starts in June.

“I honestly think I’m the right person to take this team forward and I really hope I get that opportunity,” Root said after defeat in Hobart sentenced England to a 4-0 Ashes defeat. “I feel like I’ve got the support of the players and others around me. I feel like I'm the right man for the job.

“I've got the appetite. I feel passionately about it. I'm very experienced in the role now.”

The key to progress, in Root’s mind, is an improvement in the standard of the domestic game.

In particular, he feels the standard of pitches must improve and suggests that, at present, any success produced by England players is “in spite of county cricket, not because of county cricket.”

^{The 2022 domestic fixtures are due to be announced imminently (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)}

“What incentives in county cricket right now are there to open the batting?” Root asked. “What incentives are there to be a spinner? And what incentives are there to bowl fast?

“There don’t seem to be many, whether you look at the first-innings average scores of 250 or whatever they are, how short the games last.

“I’m not going to make excuses for a performance like that, because that’s not good enough for Test cricket. It doesn’t matter how inexperienced you are. Even on that surface, which did help the seamers, we’re a better team than that and we’ve got to give a better account of ourselves.

“But what I will say is, anyone that’s coming into this Test team at the minute is doing it in spite of county cricket, not because of county cricket

“There are definitely things that need to change. You look at some of the young batters: when have they had the opportunity to go out with 450, 500 on the board and deal with scoreboard pressure?

“You don’t practice it in county cricket. The only time they’re exposed to it is in this environment.

“When have they had to go out to save a game against a turning ball in spinning conditions?

"They’ve never been exposed to it. And yet we’re expected to go to the subcontinent and win games against the best spinners in the world.

^{West Indies are England's next Test opponents (ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images)}

"We’re expected to come here and deal with pace and bounce when we might face one guy who bowls over 90mph a season.

“It’s a big thing for young guys to do without any experience or any exposure to it. 

“So how can we encourage that? What changes can be made?

“We need to produce better wickets. How are we going to do that? Hopefully by playing at a better time of the year. By flattening the seam on the ball. Maybe giving our seamers the opportunity to bowl with a Kookaburra ball.

“We could double the batting bonus points, too. There are a number of things that I think we can do quite quickly to give our guys a better opportunity to ready themselves for this environment. 

“And obviously it will nullify running in and bowling at 70mph. It will encourage guys to try and create new angles, be either more consistent or find a different way of taking wickets, and it will give spinners an opportunity to bowl in the first half of the season.”

Root also expressed the hope that Chris Silverwood, the head coach, would remain in position and that he would lead the tour party to the Caribbean in about six weeks.

He did accept, however, that the pair were similar in character and that the squad could, from time to time, do with a character who was “a little bit harder” to deliver home truths to players.

^{Root has given his backing to Chris Silverwood staying on as head coach (William West/AFP/Getty Images)}

“I really hope Silverwood is the coach in the Caribbean,” Root said. “There are underlying things that we need to change and I don’t think that necessarily getting rid of the coach is the way to go. 

“At times we have very similar personalities, so there might be occasions where we need to get a little bit harder.

“I wouldn’t say it’s cosy [in the England environment]. I would say that there are some basic things that need to change in terms of our performances.

"It’s been so frustrating the amounts of times we’ve done the same things over and over again and we’ve not seemed to learn.

“In terms of white-ball cricket, there are long term things that need to change and I hope that there a way to prioritize the red ball game in our country. I think it’s important that at least for one of the two-Test series that we have, we align that with red-ball cricket.

“And however you work that within the rest of the scheduling, it needs to be prioritised. Clearly, it won’t be ahead of The Hundred, but whether it is above something else, it will be quite nice to see.”

Our coverage of the Ashes is brought to you in association with Cricket 22

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