Ollie Pope backs Joe Root's retention as England Test captain

NICK HOWSON: Pope insists the skipper has the backing of the entire dressing room despite the 4-0 Ashes humiliation in Australia

Joe Root has received his first public endorsement from an England teammate following his retention as Test captain.

Head coach Chris Silverwood, managing director Ashley Giles and batting lead Graham Thorpe were all sacked this week following a review in the wake of the 4-0 Ashes humiliation in Australia.

But Root will lead the team in next month's Test series against West Indies, with an interim coach set to be installed for the tour by Giles' temporary replacement Andrew Strauss.

On Friday (February 4), Strauss confirmed Root - who has overseen more Tests than anyone as England skipper - would remain in place.

Twenty-two of Pope's 23 Tests have come with Root as skipper and he believes the captain has the full support of the dressing room.

"I think he's got the backing of every single player," he told Sky Sports. "We've seen what he can do as a player but he is also England's most successful captain as well. 

"His batting has gone to a new level as well and as a unit, we haven't scored the runs to back that up.

"It should not necessarily be the captain who gets punished for that. He's got a calm head on him so that is probably the reason why he stayed in the role."

^{Pope endured a torrid Ashes tour (William West/AFP/Getty Images}

Amid what was another torrid series for England's batters down under, few had it worse than Pope who registered just 67 runs at 11.16 in his three outings.

The Surrey man played the first two Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide, was dropped for Melbourne and Sydney - though he was required to take the gloves amid an injury crisis - before returning in Hobart.

Though likely to be among the squad heading to the Caribbean, Pope is anything but guaranteed to feature in the first XI.

He hopes the experience in Australia acts as a learning curve ahead of the rest of his career.

"You can use it, particularly only being 24, from a personal point of view to show what you need to do to improve and be successful in every country at the top level," he added.

"I will use it to spur me on a little bit more and highlight any slight changes that I need to make. It was a tough trip and some very valuable lessons going forward have been learned.

"I am looking forward to getting a bat back in my hands and whatever is next - hopefully the West Indies. 

"I am excited about the next challenge. I've learned a lot from it and there are some good lessons."